Does measuring early basal serum follicular luteinising [correction of lutinising] hormone assist in predicting in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome?
BACKGROUND
The aim was to examine the correlation of early follicular serum lutinising hormone (LH) and the clinical outcome of assisted reproduction technique (ART).


METHODS
An observational study included 1333 consecutive women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). 964 women were having their first cycle of ART. Data were entered prospectively. All women had serum LH measured in the 6 months before the index cycle studied. No repeat cycles were included. The main outcomes measured were clinical pregnancy (CP) and live birth (LB) correlation to serum LH. Forward multivariate stepwise regression analysis was applied, and other statistical tests were used as appropriate.


RESULTS
There was non significant correlation between basal serum LH and CP and LB in the polycystic ovary syndrome group (R2 = 0.02, F = 1.7 and P = 0.76) (R2 = 0.01, F = 2.6 and P = 0.77) respectively after adjusting for age, BMI, day of oocyte retrieval, starting dose, total dose of stimulation, type of gonadotrophin used, number of oocytes retrieved, fertilization rate and number of embryos transferred. Other aetiological causes group there was similarly non significant correlation between basal serum LH and CP (R2 = 0.05, F = 13.1 and P = 0.66), nor for LB (R2 = 0.007, F = 4.5 and P = 0.9).


CONCLUSIONS
Early follicular serum LH measurements in the 6 months before IVF/ICSI treatment cycle did not correlate with the clinical pregnancy or the live birth rate.
Barts and The London Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Kenton and Lucas Block, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts and The London NHS Trust, West Smithfield, London, UK. kassab1963@yahoo.com
Ahmed
A
Kassab
Luca
L
Sabatini
Gidon
G
Lieberman
Amanda
A
Tozer
Ariel
A
Zosmer
Colin
C
Davis
Talha
T
Al-Shawaf
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors
D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone