scholarly journals Impact of pharmacological Interventions on fertility outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Author(s):  
MOHAMMED ABDALLA ◽  
Najeeb Shah ◽  
Harshal Deshmukh ◽  
Amirhossein Sahebkar ◽  
Linda Östlundh ◽  
...  

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine condition associated with sub-fertility, infertility and poor reproductive outcomes. Objectives: To review the effectiveness of different pharmacological interventions on fertility outcomes in women with PCOS. Search Strategy: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science in April 2020 and updated the search in PubMed March 2021. Selection Criteria: Two independent reviewers selected studies, and only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Data Collection and Analysis: Thirty-four RCTs that met the eligibility criteria were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) using the random effect model. Main Results: There was a significant increase in pregnancy rate with follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) vs clomiphene citrate (CC)+ metformin (Odd Ratio(OR):4.08; 95%CI:1.12-14.83,I²=79%), Letrozole vs CC (OR: 1.58; 95%CI: 1.34-1.86, I²= 0%), metformin vs placebo(OR: 3.00; 95%CI: 1.95-4.59, I²= 0%) and with CC+ metformin vs CC (OR: 1.48; 95%CI: 1.02-2.16, I²= 39%). There were significant increases in ovulation rate with CC+ metformin vs FSH (OR: 0.09; 95%CI: 0.02-0.37, I² = 75%), CC+ metformin vs CC (OR: 2.04; 95%CI: 1.35-3.08, I² = 63%) and with Letrozole vs CC (OR: 1.60; 95%CI: 1.02-2.52, I²= 88%). A significant increase in live birth with Letrozole vs CC (OR: 1.63; 95%CI: 1.21-2.21, I² = 0%) was observed. Conclusions: CC, letrozole alone or either added to metformin, were associated with a significant increase in the pregnancy rate, ovulation rate, and live birth rate in women with PCOS. Funding: No fund for the review.

Author(s):  
Mahija Sahu ◽  
Nihar Ranjan Rout

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is the commonest endocrinopathy resulting in anovulatory infertile young women. Clomifene citrate (clomiphene) is a long-standing standard drug for ovulation induction, and is still considered as first line option in PCOS women. However, clomiphene has certain disadvantage letrozole an aromatase inhibitor acts by reducing estrogen production and has no adverse effects on endometrium and cervical mucous. Indian PCOS women have high prevalence of insulin resistance and thus are likely to have high clomiphene resistance. So letrozole could prove to be a good alternative for ovulation induction in such women.Methods: This was a prospective randomized, parallel, comparative clinical trial of two ovulation induction drugs letrozole 5 mg versus clomiphene citrate 100 mg as first-line ovulation induction drug in infertile polycystic ovarian syndrome women. The target population of the study was one hundred infertile women with PCO (taking at least 2 Rotterdam’s parameters). 50 women were allocated to clomifene citrate and 50 were allocated to Letrozole for ovulation induction. Parameters like age, duration of infertility, B MI, ovulation rate, number of follicles, pregnancy rate, endometrial thickness were noted and analyzed.Results: In letrozole group, the ovulation rate, mono-follicular development, mean endometrial thickness and pregnancy rate was better in comparison to clomifene citrate group.Conclusions: The result of this study suggests that letrozole may replace clomiphene as the first line drug for ovulation induction in infertile PCOS women.


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