The following is a summary of “Maternal Morbidity and Medically Assisted Reproduction Treatment Types,” published in the December 2024 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology by Pelikh et al.
Maternal morbidity has been linked to medically assisted reproduction treatments, such as fertility-enhancing drugs, intrauterine insemination (IUI), and assisted reproductive technology (ART) with autologous or donor oocytes.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to compare the risk of maternal morbidity by type of medically assisted reproduction treatment and mode of pregnancy.
They used birth certificates from Utah (2009–2017) to study maternal morbidity in 469,919 deliveries, of which 22,543 (4.8%) were pregnancies through medically assisted reproduction. Logistic regression was used to compare maternal morbidity risk between assisted reproduction and unassisted pregnancies, adjusting for sociodemographic factors (age, family structure, education level, Hispanic origin, parity), pre-existing comorbidities (chronic hypertension, heart disease, asthma), multifetal gestation, and obstetric complications (placenta previa, placental abruption, cesarean delivery).
The results showed that pregnancies through medically assisted reproduction had higher maternal morbidity risks, with odds increasing as treatments became more invasive. Compared to unassisted pregnancies, the OR for ART with autologous oocytes was 1.46 (95% CI, 1.20–1.78). This association was primarily explained by multifetal gestation and obstetric comorbidities, with differences in maternal morbidity between assisted reproduction and unassisted pregnancies no longer being statistically significant in models with singletons after adjusting for obstetric comorbidities.
They concluded that more invasive medically assisted reproduction treatments were linked to higher maternal morbidity, but the association may also be influenced by subfertility and increased obstetric risks.
Source: journals.lww.com/greenjournal/fulltext/9900/maternal_morbidity_and_medically_assisted.1196.aspx
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