Outcome of pregnancies derived from assisted reproductive technologies: IVF versus ICSI

Purpose: To compare the course and outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) pregnancies. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a university-affiliated IVF unit with 200 patients who conceived in 1996-1997, 100 with ICSI and 100 with IVF. Data were retrieved 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 were compared. The main outcome measures were maternal age, implantation rate, early pregnancy complications, clinical abortion rate, multiple pregnancy delivery rate, gestational age at delivery, mode of delivery, and birth weight. Results: In all, 238 children were born, including 104 singleton infants (45 IVF, 59 ICSI), 49 twin pairs (28 IVF, 21 ICSI), and 12 triplet sets (3 IVF, 9 ICSI). Statistically significant differences between the ICSI and IVF groups were noted for maternal 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 characterized by a lower clinical abortion rate than IVF pregnancies, probably because of the mean younger age of the ICSI group.