Higher risk of pre-eclampsia and other vascular disorders with artificial cycle for frozen-thawed embryo transfer compared to ovulatory cycle or to fresh embryo transfer following fertilization.

Background: Risks of maternal morbidity are known to be reduced in pregnancies resulting from frozen embryo transfer (FET) compared to fresh-embryo transfer (-ET), except for the risk of pre-eclampsia, reported to be higher in FET pregnancies compared to -ET or natural conception. Few studies have compared the risk of maternal vascular morbidities according to endometrial preparation for FET, either with ovulatory cycle (OC-FET) or artificial cycle (AC-FET). Furthermore, maternal pre-eclampsia could be associated with subsequent vascular disorders in the offspring.

Fetal growth disorders following medically assisted reproduction: due to maternal context or techniques? A national French cohort study.

Research Question: What part do maternal context and medically assisted reproduction (MAR) techniques play in the risk of fetal growth disorders?

Design: This retrospective nationwide cohort study uses data available in the French National Health System database and focuses on the period from 2013 to 2017. Fetal growth disorders were divided into four groups according to the origin of pregnancy: fresh embryo transfer (n = 45,201), frozen embryo transfer (FET, n = 18,845), intrauterine insemination (IUI, n = 20,179) and natural conceptions (n = 3,412,868). Fetal growth disorders were defined from the percentiles of the weight distribution according to gestational age and sex: small and large for gestational age (SGA and LGA) if <10th and >90th percentiles, respectively.

Risk factors associated with preterm birth in singletons born after IVF: a national cohort study.

Research Question: What are the risk factors for prematurity other than intrauterine growth restriction in singletons after IVF?

Design: Data were collected from a national registry, based on an observational prospective cohort of 30,737 live births after assisted reproductive technology (fresh embryo transfers: n = 20,932 and frozen embryo transfer [FET] n = 9805) between 2014 and 2015. A population of not-small for gestational age singletons conceived after fresh embryo transfers and FET, and their parents, was selected. Data on a number of variables were collected, including type of infertility, number of oocytes retrieved and vanishing twins.

A hybrid artificial intelligence model leverages multi-centric clinical data to improve fetal heart rate pregnancy prediction across time-lapse systems.

Study Question: Can artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms developed to assist embryologists in evaluating embryo morphokinetics be enriched with multi-centric clinical data to better predict clinical pregnancy outcome?

Summary Answer: Training algorithms on multi-centric clinical data significantly increased AUC compared to algorithms that only analyzed the time-lapse system (TLS) videos.

What Is Known Already: Several AI-based algorithms have been developed to predict pregnancy, most of them based only on analysis of the time-lapse recording of embryo development. It remains unclear, however, whether considering numerous clinical features can improve the predictive performances of time-lapse based embryo evaluation.

Obstetrical outcomes and maternal morbidities associated with COVID-19 in pregnant women in France: A national retrospective cohort study.

Background: To the best of our knowledge, no study has exhaustively evaluated the association between maternal morbidities and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the first wave of the pandemic in pregnant women. We investigated, in natural conceptions and assisted reproductive technique (ART) pregnancies, whether maternal morbidities were more frequent in pregnant women with COVID-19 diagnosis compared to pregnant women without COVID-19 diagnosis during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods And Findings: We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data in a national cohort of all hospitalizations for births ≥22 weeks of gestation in France from January to June 2020 using the French national hospitalization database (PMSI).

Competence of embryos showing transient developmental arrest during in vitro culture.

Purpose: In vitro developing embryos may apparently show no developmental progress during 24 h and resume their development up to the blastocyst stage. The present study was conducted to assess their ability to implant and to give rise to a live birth when replaced at day 5 (fresh or vitrified/warmed) as compared to continuously developing embryos.

Methods: Embryo development follow-up and grade were prospectively recorded in a photo database.

Endometriosis and assisted reproductive techniques independently related to mother-child morbidities: a French longitudinal national study.

Research Question: Does endometriosis increase obstetric and neonatal complications, and does assisted reproductive technology (ART) cause additional risk of maternal or fetal morbidity?

Design: A nationwide cohort study (2013-2018) comparing maternal and perinatal morbidities in three groups of single pregnancies: spontaneous pregnancies without endometriosis; spontaneous pregnancies with endometriosis; and ART pregnancies in women with endometriosis.

Results: Mean maternal ages were 30.0 (SD = 5.

Do in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination or female infertility impact the risk of congenital anomalies in singletons? A longitudinal national French study.

Study Question: Do IVF, IUI or female infertility (i.e. endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome [PCOS] and primary ovarian insufficiency [POI]) lead to an increased risk of congenital anomalies in singletons?

Summary Answer: After multivariable adjustments, the increased risks of congenital defects associated with IUI were no longer significant, but the underlying maternal infertility presented a potential emental risk, in addition to the risk associated with IVF.

Reproductive technologies, female infertility, and the risk of imprinting-related disorders.

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that singletons born from assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have a high risk of adverse perinatal outcomes, specifically for imprinting disorders. Because ART processes take place at times when epigenetic reprogramming/imprinting are occurring, there is concern that ART can affect genomic imprints. However, little is currently known about the risk of imprinting defects according to the type of ART or the type of underlying female infertility.

Health and Well-Being Outcomes of Adolescents Conceived Through In Vitro Fertilization and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection.

What is the perception of health and well-being of adolescents from an assisted reproductive technology (ART) cohort? We conducted a survey, from September 2015 to June 2016, through self-completion questionnaires, on 487 singleton or twin ART-conceived 11- to 15-year-old adolescents, followed up since 1994, as part of an ART cohort. Collected data concerned perinatal characteristics, health indicators and perception, eating habits, behavior, and living standards. A total of 60.

Drug hypersensitivity in children: a retrospective analysis of 101 pharmacovigilance reports.

Our objective was to describe and discuss management of recent cases of drug hypersensitivity in children reported in a pharmacovigilance center. Two pediatric allergy units conducted a collaborative retrospective analysis of 101 adverse drug reactions reported to a regional pharmacovigilance center between January 2016 and July 2019. Time lapse between hypersensitivity reaction onset and allergy consultation varied from 1 month to 12 years.

[Adverse obstetric and perinatal outcome with in vitro fertilization technology: A French nationwide population-based study].

Objectives: The objective of this study was to quantify the risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity with in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology compared to non-IVF pregnancies in a recent French national cohort.

Method: The data was extracted from the hospital information data system, including all pregnancies with a delivery from 2013 to 2016. The risks of preterm birth, maternal morbidity (venous and arterial thrombosis, gestational diabetes, vascular disorders, placenta previa, placenta abruption), hypotrophy and congenital malformation were compared in both groups in univariate and multivariate analysis after adjustment on the characteristics of women (age, parity, obesity, tobacco dependence, history of diabetes or high blood pressure), multiple deliveries and sex of children.

Birthweight of IVF children is still a current issue and still related to maternal factors.

Research Question: Does fresh embryo transfer after IVF with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) increase the small for gestational age (SGA) rate, and frozen embryo transfer (FET) after IVF with or without ICSI increase the large for gestational age (LGA) rate versus natural conception?

Design: Retrospective comparison of an exposed historical group/cohort involving singletons conceived after fresh embryo transfer and after FET with an unexposed group/cohort involving singletons conceived after a natural conception.

Results: A total of 1961 fresh embryo transfer babies and 366 FET babies were compared with 6981 natural conception babies. The SGA rate in fresh embryo transfer babies was not significantly different to natural conception babies (6.

Is it worth it to cryopreserve embryos with blastulation delay at day 5?

This is a retrospective study over a 5-year period. In total, 3139 embryos were individually cryopreserved (Cryotop®) and warmed using the Kitazato vitrification/warming kit. They were classified into three categories based on their expansion degree.

[Satisfaction survey on the use of autologous oocyte vitrification in Assisted Reproductive Technologies].

Objectives: We organized a survey for in-vitro fertilization couples who beneficiated on self-preservation of part of the oocyte cohort. The main objective was to measure couples' satisfaction. Secondary objectives were; to identify how patients had been informed; to verify that the use of the ART technique met their expectations, and how they felt about oocyte or embryo freezing.

No difference in congenital anomalies prevalence irrespective of insemination methods and freezing procedure: cohort study over fourteen years of an ART population in the south of France.

Purpose: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate and compare the prevalence of congenital anomalies in babies and fetuses conceived after four procedures of assisted reproduction technologies (ART).

Methods: The prevalence of congenital anomalies was compared retrospectively between 2750 babies and fetuses conceived between 2001 and 2014 in vitro fertilization with standard insemination (IVF), IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), IVF with frozen embryo transfer (FET-IVF), and ICSI with frozen embryo transfer (FET-ICSI). Congenital anomalies were described according to European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT) classification.

Longitudinal growth of French singleton children born after in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Body mass index up to 5 years of age.

Background: The literature presents conflicting results on the epigenetic effect of in vitro fertilization (IVF) on the short-term and mid-term growth of children. These contradictory results may be related to the use of heterogeneous methodologies and non-longitudinal data. The goal of this study was to compare the body mass index (BMI) of children conceived via IVF and spontaneous conception (SC) children, using longitudinal data from birth to 5 years.

Misoprostol exposure during the first trimester of pregnancy: Is the malformation risk varying depending on the indication?

Objective: To report the prospective follow-up of pregnancies exposed to misoprostol during the first trimester and analyse the teratogenic risk depending on the indication for use.

Study Design: Prospective observational study of 265 women exposed to misoprostol during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and followed until the delivery. Women were included if they or their physician had contacted a French pharmacovigilance centre before 22 weeks of gestation (WG) to obtain information on the risk of misoprostol exposure, and if there had been misoprostol exposure before 13 WG.

The first 50 live births after autologous oocyte vitrification in France.

Purpose: The study aims to describe the newborn health parameters of the 50 first children conceived after autologous oocyte vitrification in France.

Methods: The 50 children born after autologous oocyte vitrification/warming cycle (VAO children) have been retrospectively compared with 364 children conceived by micromanipulation using freshly recovered non-vitrified oocytes (ICSI children). Children included in the study were born between 2011 and 2015.

[Ovocyte vitrification: a tool for the future].

Ovocyte vitrification was finally authorized by the new law voted in July 2011 upon the revision of the French bioethics law. Expected for 30 years, cryopreservation of female gametes had a major impact on Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) practice worldwide and in our country. It brought tremendous changes in the field of reproductive biology, from intraconjugal infertility management to gamete donation, through autologous cryopreservation for fertility preservation.

Morphokinetics analysis of embryos derived from vitrified/warmed oocytes.

Purpose: Oocyte vitrification is a worldwide used technique that has proved its worth. Although it was shown not to alter oocyte integrity, a recent study concluded that it may affect oocyte embryo development. As the morphology and kinetics of embryos derived from sibling fresh and vitrified oocytes have not been described previously, the present study evaluates cleavage rate, blastomeres size, fragmentation rate, and blastocyst formation in vitrified/warmed oocyte derived embryos (VODE) as compared with sibling fresh oocytes derived embryos (FODE).

[Oocyte vitrification in an ART laboratory].

Oocyte vitrification has been authorized in France after the modification of French bioethics law in July 2011. This evolution will bring a dramatic change in patients' management since, from 2011, infertile couples, oocyte donation and fertility preservation programs will benefit this technique in France. We have introduced oocyte vitrification in our ART laboratory through a validation of the method using Evidence-Based Medicine model: open system Cryotop, Ethylène-glycol 15% and DMSO 15%.

[Oocyte vitrification and its impact on the clinical practice of assisted reproduction].

Oocyte vitrification is a new technique in cryobiology that will lead to a number of improvements in assisted reproduction practices, oocyte donation and the preservation of female fertility. Professionals already versed in the techniques of micromanipulation will be able to master the new procedures, which should not be delegated to unqualified staff. When adopted by clinical units, oocyte vitrification will require changes in laboratory and administrative organization.