Common fertility treatments 'little use'

Updated 15.20 Fri Aug 08 2008

Keywords: clomifene citrate, Mother Nature, artificial insemination, treatments, fertility

Mother Nature is just as effective as some common fertility treatments, new research has suggested.

One in seven couples in the UK experience infertility, with around a quarter of these having unexplained fertility.

A new study has found the chances of couples becoming pregnant using either the drug clomifene citrate or artificial insemination are not significantly higher than those not having treatment

A new study has found the chances of couples becoming pregnant using either the drug clomifene citrate or artificial insemination are not significantly higher than those not having treatment.

According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), current guidelines need to be reviewed in light of the findings. Couples trying to conceive have been treated for many years in line with fertility guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

Unexplained fertility relates to couples who have had investigations which have failed to find abnormalities. These may include semen analysis, checks on fallopian tubes and assessment of ovulation.

For the study, 580 women from four teaching hospitals and one general hospital in Scotland were divided into groups. All groups were comparable in terms of age, body weight and the men's sperm quality.

One group of 193 women was given advice on having sex regularly but left to try to conceive naturally. Another 194 women were given clomifene citrate, which is inexpensive and is believed to correct subtle ovulatory dysfunction.

The remaining 193 were given unstimulated intrauterine insemination (IUI), which is thought to enhance the chance of pregnancy by overcoming the cervical barrier.

All treatments were followed for six months and at the very end of the study, there had been a total of 101 live births.

There were 32 births among the 193 women trying to conceive naturally compared with 26 among those on the drug and 43 among those having insemination.

Although those receiving insemination had a higher rate of pregnancy, the experts said this was not significant enough to be solely down to the procedure.

Experts from the universities of Aberdeen and Oxford, and hospitals in Edinburgh, Dundee, Falkirk and Glasgow, who conducted the study said: "Clomifene citrate or unstimulated intrauterine insemination seems to be no more effective than expectant management in couples with unexplained fertility."