Comparison of Efficacy Between Letrozole and Clomiphene Citrate in Females Presented With Infertility Due to Polycystic Ovaries.

Abstract

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a genetically heterogeneous syndrome in which females often have to confront with the issue of infertility. Medical management of PCOS is aimed at the treatment of anovulation and menstrual irregularity. Letrozole and clomiphene citrate are two successful drugs for management of PCOS but contradiction is present in literature that which drug is more effective. So we conducted this study to find more successful drug to be implemented in future in local population.
 Objective: To compare the efficacy of oral Letrozole versus Clomiphene Citrate in females diagnosed with infertility due to polycystic ovaries
 Subjects & Methods: This randomized control trial was conducted at department of Gynaecology & Obstetrics, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore for 6 months (May to November 2020). The non-probability, consecutive Sampling was used. Informed consent and demographic data was noted. Then females were randomly divided in two group by using lottery method. Females in Letrozole group were prescribed 2.5-7.5 mg daily from Day 2-Day 6 of menstruation and females in clomiphene citrate group was prescribed 50-150 mg daily from Day 2-Day 6 of menses. Females were advised to visit after every cycle till 3months. On every visit transvaginal ultrasonography was done to assess presence of follicles and number and size of follicles and endometrial thickness. All the data was entered on SPSS version 20.
 Results: The mean age of the patients was 26.13±5.07 years in group A and 27.17±5.95 years in group B. After 3rd month, the mean endometrial thickness in group A was 8.45±0.58 mm and in group B was 7.45±0.58 mm, the mean follicle was 23.75±4.253 in group A while 20.38±6.154 in group B. The ovulation occurred in 48 cases in group A and in 29 cases in group B. The efficacy was achieved in 36 cases in group A and 16 cases in group B and the difference in both groups was statistically significant i.e. p-value=0.000.
 Conclusion: Thus the Letrozole has significantly higher efficacy as compared to Clomiphene citrate. So from the results of our study we recommend letrozole as first line treatment for the management of PCOS.
 Keywords: Polycystic ovarian syndrome, PCOS, Letrozole, Clomiphene Citrate, Efficacy, Infertility