Live birth rates in different subgroups of poor ovarian responders according to Bologna criteria and POSEIDON group classification

Abstract

Background Recently, some studies evaluated the live births rates (LBRs) in two poor ovarian responders (POR) classification methods separately, but present study was designed to compare the LBRs among different groups of patients on the basis of Bologna criteria or POSIEDON group classifications and find the important predictive factors for LBR in patients with POR.Methods In this cross-sectional study, the database containing clinical and laboratory information on infertility treatment cycles were evaluated from December 2015 to December 2017 and all the patients with at least one POR after standard controlled ovarian stimulation (COH) during IVF/ICSI cycles were evaluated. The eligible patients were enrolled and divided into five and four groups according to the Bologna criteria and POSEIDON groups’ classifications, respectively.Results 812 patients with POR diagnosis were investigated which in overall 517 of them had embryo transfer in the last treatment cycle (63.6%) and total clinical pregnancy rate 19.3% (100 cases) and live birth rates 16.1% (86 cases) were found. When the patients were grouped on the Basis of the POSEIDON classification, the highest LBR was observed in the POSEIDON group III. On the other hand, according to the Bologna criteria, 41 patients were not included in any group, and in the analysis of cycle outcome, the LBR in the Bologna group II was more than other groups. The multivariable regression analysis revealed that the significant independent variables remained in the model as important predictive factor for live births in the study population were the number and quality of the transferred embryos transmission (good and excellent quality), and the POSSIDON classification group (POSSIDON group III).ConclusionsOn the basis of present results, the POSEIDON group classification could be more comprehensive and practical than Bologna criteria for diagnosing and categorizing POR patients. In addition, it was found the number and quality of transferred embryos were the most important prognostic factor for live birth in POR patients; therefore we suggest to consider COH protocols with a freezing embryos strategy, and the collection of more good quality embryos to improve the probability of a live birth.