Factors associated with successful In-Vitro Fertilization Treatment at Lusaka IVF and Fertility Clinic in Zambia

Abstract

Background: The considerable emotional, physical and financial burden associated with infertility and its treatment in general, demands that factors strongly associated with the outcome should be identified and regulated prior to embryo transfer. This will improve the outcome of IVF and provide a patient centered approach to treatment.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study at the Lusaka IVF and fertility clinic. The study aimed to identify factors associated with successful IVF treatment. 414 women had undergone IVF treatment and were eligible. The data was collected from patients’ files and entered in excel then exported to Stata V13.1.for analysis. The participant’s characteristics were compared using the Chi square. The success rate was calculated and associations measured using univariate and multivariate logistic regression.

Results: The success rate of IVF treatment was 31% in the study period. Factors associated with successful IVF treatment include age, number of embryos transferred and the sperm factor. These were statistically significant. It was noted that post-menopausal women were 3 times more likely to have a successful IVF than those less than 35 years.

Conclusion: The success rate of IVF treatment at LIVF clinic was 31%. The factors associated with successful IVF treatment were age of the woman, order of embryos transferred and use of donor sperm. There is need to engage the law makers to come up with a legal framework that will guide on the handling of gametes which will include sperm and oocyte donation and receiving, freezing, transportation and surrogacy.