tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20664654.post-52393158127055165592009-06-25T01:59:00.000-07:002009-06-25T02:29:20.390-07:00Forbes published <a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/06/19/hscout628071.html" target="blank">a story </a>a few days ago about a study that tested results of couples who went through either three or six <a href="http://www.fertilitystories.com/iui.htm">IUI</a> cycles before moving on to <a href="http://www.fertilitystories.com/ivf.htm">IVF</a>. I looked for the original article, which they said was published by <a href="http://www.fertstert.org/current" target="blank">Fertility and Sterility</a>, but I wasn't able to find it in their list of articles.<br /><br />According to the Forbes article, the couples were divided into two groups of 256 (3-cycle program) and 247 (6-cycle program). Couples from both groups who had not yet achieved pregnancy went on to up to six cycles of IVF.<br /><br />The results were surprising - the average time to pregnancy in the 3-cycle group was eight months whereas it was eleven months in the 6-cycle group. In addition, the couples in the 3-cycle group saved on average over $2600. They explained part of this savings by the fact that more women from the 3-cycle group had singleton births (and births of multiples are more expensive). Overall, 67% of the couples in the 3-cycle group and 61% of the couples in the 6-cycle group ended the study with a baby.<br /><br />I would be interested to hear why the researchers think that the success rate in the 3-cycle group was higher (if it is statistically significant) - does it have to do with being run down? Do the IUI cycles have a long-term negative effect on the uterine lining?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--google_ad_client = "pub-1987964527181783"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = "468x60_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel ="7231206257"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "6666CC"; google_color_text = "000000"; google_color_url = "FFFFFF"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20664654-5239315812705516559?l=www.fertilitystories.com%2Ffertilityblog%2Findex.html'/></div>Rachel Inbarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06605780418673759318noreply@blogger.com0