Women who wait three months longer for their IVF treatment have similar outcomes to those who are treated immediately, according to a study of women who experienced routine delays.
The findings are reassuring for people experiencing fertility treatment delays due to the covid-19 pandemic, say the study authors 鈥� although other researchers point out that not all people will have the same experience.
The coronavirus outbreak has had a knock-on effect on other healthcare services, with many countries cancelling or postponing treatments that are deemed 鈥渘on-essential鈥�. In many places, this included fertility treatment.
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On 17 March, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine stated the need to , while several UK bodies advised on 23 March that .
Given the decline in fertility with age, many people trying to conceive worry that any delay in fertility treatment might lower their chance of having a baby.
To estimate the impact of these delays, Glenn Schattman at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and his colleagues compared the outcomes of past cases in which people had experienced delays to their treatment with those in which people had received immediate treatment.
Specifically, the team looked at 1115 women who had started a cycle of IVF treatment within 90 days of their initial consultation, and 675 who had begun IVF between 91 and 180 days after the consultation. All the women in the study had low levels of a hormone called AMH, suggesting they had low ovarian reserve, or a small number of viable eggs. Women in both groups were aged 39, on average.
Schattman and his colleagues found no difference in the rate of live births between the two groups of women, suggesting that a delay in treatment didn鈥檛 affect their chances of having a baby. 鈥淭hese results are reassuring to patients who may feel anxious to begin their treatment and become frustrated when unexpected delays occur,鈥� the researchers write.
鈥淭he study is reassuring to some degree,鈥� says Zeynep Gurtin at University College London. But she points out that the women in the study will have experienced routine delays, which can occur for a variety of reasons, such as being unwell, or finding a cyst or polyp that requires treatment. The current pandemic is an entirely different situation, she says.
Gurtin鈥檚 own research, which has yet to be published, suggests that people are currently worried about how a coronavirus infection might affect their fertility treatment. Some also have new financial concerns.
Jacky Boivin at Cardiff University, UK, agrees that it is hard to apply the findings from pre-pandemic data to people who are experiencing delays today. She also cautions that, given the age of the women in the study, the findings might only apply to older women with a lower chance of fertility. Younger people might be more likely to show greater change in fertility over time, she says.
In addition, while clinics may now be reopening, they won鈥檛 be operating at full capacity and will be working through a backlog of cases, meaning that delays could end up exceeding three months for some people, says Boivin.
Human Reproduction
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