Outcome of Pregnancies Derived from Assisted Reproductive Technologies: IVF versus ICSI

Purpose: To compare the course and outcome of in vitrofertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) pregnancies. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a university-affiliatedIVF unit with 200 patients who conceived in1996–1997, 100 with ICSI and 100 with IVF. Data wereretrieved from our prospectively created computerized database.In addition, all patients were interviewed by telephone,and the interviewing physician completed a detailed questionnaire.Findings for the IVF and ICSI pregnancies werecompared. The main outcome measures were maternal age,implantation rate, early pregnancy complications, clinicalabortion rate, multiple pregnancy delivery rate, gestationalage at delivery, mode of delivery, and birth weight. Results: In all, 238 children were born, including 104 singletoninfants (45 IVF, 59 ICSI), 49 twin pairs (28 IVF, 21 ICSI),and 12 triplet sets (3 IVF, 9 ICSI). Statistically significantdifferences between the ICSI and IVF groups were noted formaternal age (31.3 ± 4.4 vs. 33.4 ± 4.8, respectively, P < 0.005)and clinical abortion rate (11% vs. 24%, respectively,P < 0.05). Conclusions: ICSI pregnancies in our series were characterizedby a lower clinical abortion rate than IVF pregnancies,probably because of the mean younger age of the ICSI group.