Can anti-Müllerian hormone predict success outcomes in donor sperm inseminations?

Abstract

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a useful biomarker to predict the ovarian response to controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) for IVF. However, currently there is a lack of evidence for the role of ovarian reserve markers when there is no need of COS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of AMH to predict the outcomes of donor sperm insemination cycles in non-infertile women. A retrospective study including 139 healthy women, who underwent 348 intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles with donor sperms under the stimulated or natural cycles, was conducted. All patients had an AMH evaluation performed before starting the first IUI attempt. AMH levels were similar in both, women who conceived and those who did not (2.00 ± 1.52 vs. 1.88 ± 1.64 ng/ml; p = .45). The area under the ROC curve in predicting pregnancy for AMH was 0.53. After adjusting for other confounding variables, the multivariate analysis revealed that AMH was not associated with pregnancy (aOR 0.89; 95% CI 0.57–1.37). We conclude that AMH is not predictive of pregnancy in healthy non-infertile women who perform IUI with donor sperm. These findings suggest the low capability of AMH to predict fertility when no COS is needed.

摘要

AMH是IVF前进行控制性超促排卵中预测卵巢反应性的一个非常有用的生物标记物。但是目前缺乏AMH在控制性超促排卵之外作用的研究。本研究的目的是评估AMH对不育女性使用供精妊娠结果的预测作用。回顾性研究了139例健康女性, 在刺激周期或自然周期下进行348次供精人工授精（IUI）。所有患者在开始第一次IUI之前都进行了AMH的评估。AMH水平在妊娠组女性和非妊娠组女性中并没有差异（2.00 ± 1.52 vs. 1.88 ± 1.64 ng/ml; p=0.45）。 ROC曲线下AMH预测妊娠的面积为0.53。在调整其他混杂因素后, 多因素分析显示AMH与妊娠结局不相关(a OR 0.89; 95% CI 0.57–1.37). 我们认为：AMH对健康非不孕的女性接受供精IUI的妊娠结局没有预测作用, 在控制性超促排卵之外, AMH预测生育结局的能力较低。

KEYWORDS:

• Ovarian reserve
• anti-müllerian hormone (AMH)
• natural fertility
• Donor sperm intrauterine insemination
• clinical pregnancy

Acknowledgements

This research was performed under the auspices of the Càtedra d’Investigació en Obstetrícia i Ginecologia of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine, Hospital Universitari Dexeus, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest with regard to this study.