Transfer of more than two embryos, regardless of the age of the female partner, is not beneficial for neither the mothers nor the babies: lessons from the Latin American Registry of Assisted Reproductive Techniques

Assisted reproductive techniques in Latin America: The Latin American Registry, 2014

Multinational data on assisted reproduction techniques undertaken in 2014 were collected from 159 institutions in 15 countries in Latin America. Treatments included IVF/ ICSI, FET, OD, PGD and fertility preservation (FP). 41.34% of IVF/ICSI cycles were performed in women aged 35 to 39 years and 23.35% in women aged 40 and older. After removing cases with total freezing, delivery rate per oocyte retrieval was 25.05% for ICSI and 27.41% for IVF. Multiple births included 20.78% twins and 0.92 % triplets and over. In OD, twins reached 28.93% and triplets 1.07 %. Preterm deliveries reached 16.4% in singletons, 55.02% in twins and 76% in triplets. Perinatal mortality in 18,162 births was 23 per 1000 in singletons, 35 per 1000 in twins, and 36 per 1000 in high-order multiples. Elective single embryo transfer (eSET) represented only 2.63 % of fresh transfers, with a delivery rate of 32.15% per transfer. Elective double embryo transfer (eDET) represented 23.74% of transfers, with a delivery rate of 41.03% per transfer. Among babies born during this period 11,373 (62.6%) were singletons; 6,398 (35.2%) twins, and 391 (2.2%), triplets and more. Given the effect of multiple births on prematurity, morbidity and perinatal mortality, reinforcing the existing trend of reducing the number of embryos transferred is mandatory.