Do High Progesterone Levels Affect Clinical Pregnancy Rates in Freeze-All Cycles?

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of early progesterone elevation on clinical pregnancyand abortion rates in freeze-all cycles. Material and Methods: Assessments were carried out onpatients who underwent frozen embryo transfer (FET) between 2015 and 2018 after tertiary referral at the Ondokuz Mayıs University In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Center, Samsun, Turkey. Serumprogesterone levels were measured at the beginning (p1) and on the 11th day (p2) of the HRT cycle,and two subgroups were identified as 1.5 ng/L and 1.5 ng/L. Results: FET was indicated for 204women with symptoms of unexplained infertility (n130), male factor (n54), or poor ovarianreserve (n20). No significant correlation was found between clinical pregnancy rates and progesterone levels on the 2nd to 3rd day (p0.389) nor on the 11th day of the HRT cycle (p0.407). Similar results were also obtained for the correlation between the abortion rates and progesterone levelson the second, third, or 11th days of the cycle (p1.000, not significant). Conclusion: Although progesterone elevation is believed to cause early maturation of the endometrium, the present findingsindicate clinically nonsignificant effects of progesterone levels on pregnancy and abortion rates infrozen cycles.