Table 3 Characteristics of the studies included in the final analysis according to the specific intervention
Interventions | Evidence | Country | Ovarian stimulation protocol | Population | CoE | Assessment of quality a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Predictive models | Lensen et al., 2018 | New Zealand | 4 RCTs: 2 agonists; 1 antagonists; 1 no OS performed | General infertile population | Low | High |
Monitoring and surveillance | Kwan et al., 2021 | England | 6 RCTs: 3 agonists; 1 both agonists and antagonists; 1 hMGÂ alone; 1 unknown | General infertile population | Low | High |
Natural IVF cycles | Allersma et al., 2013 | Netherlands | 1 RCT: Natural IVF cycles vs. agonist | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Pre-treatment with oral contraceptives | Farquhar et al., 2017 | New Zealand | 2 RCTs: antagonists vs. pre-treatment with OC + antagonists 2 RCTs: pre-treatment with OC + agonists | General infertile population | Low | High |
Personalization | Lensen et al., 2018 | New Zealand | 1 RCT: agonists OR agonists + 100 UI vs. 150 UI FSH | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Mild ovarian stimulation | Datta et al., 2021 | England | Normal-responder 9 RCTs: 6 antagonists vs. agonists; 2 agonists; 1 no treatment vs. agonists Hyper-responder 2Â RCTs: 1 antagonists vs. agonists; 1 agonists or antagonists | General infertile population | Moderate | High |
Urinary vs. recombinant gonadotropin | van Wely et al., 2011 | Netherlands | 32 RCTs: 29 agonists; 1 antagonists, 2 unknown | General infertile population | High | High |
Corifollitropin alfa | Cozzolino et al., 2018 | Spain | 5 RCTs: antagonists | General infertile population | Not available | Moderate |
r-LH | Mochtar et al., 2017 | England | 6 RCTs: 4 agonists, 2 antagonists | General infertile population | Low | High |
Clomiphene citrate or letrozole | Kamath et al., 2017 | India | 5 RCTs: 2 agonists; 2 agonists vs. antagonists; 1 antagonists | General infertile population | Low | High |
Clomiphene citrate | Bechtejew et al., 2017 | Brazil | 4 RTCs: unknown | General infertile population | Moderate | Moderate |
Letrozole | Bechtejew et al., 2017 | China | 1 RTC: unknown | General infertile population | Low | Moderate |
Metformin | Tso et al., 2020 | Brazil | 11 RCTs: 9 agonists; 2 antagonists | PCOS Patients | Low | High |
Melatonin | Seko et al., 2014 | Brazil | 1 RCT: agonists | PCOS | Low | High |
Coasting | D’Angelo et al., 2017 | England | 2 RCTs: coasting vs. no coasting | General infertile population | Low | High |
GnRH analogs Unselected population | Al-Inany et al., 2016 | Egypt | 36 RCTs: antagonists vs. agonists | General infertile population | Moderate | High |
GnRH analogs General population | Lambalk et al., 2017 | Netherlands | 22 RCTs and 9 RCTs: antagonists vs. agonists | General infertile population and PCOS patients | Not available | High |
GnRH analogs PCOS population | Kadoura et al., 2022 | Syrian Arab Republic | 9 RCTs: antagonists vs. agonists | PCOS | Very low | High |
GnRH analogs Normo-responders | Wang et al., 2017 | China | 21 RCTs: antagonists vs. agonists | Normal responders | Not available | High |
GnRH analogs Poor-responders | Lambalk et al., 2017 | Netherlands | 6 RCTs: antagonists vs. agonists | Poor-responders | Not available | High |
Progestin-primed ovarian stimulation | Guan et al., 2021 | China | 6 RCTs: 5 antagonists, 1 agonists | General infertile population | Low | Low |
Triggering: type of hCG | Youssef et al., 2016a | Egypt | 3 RCTs: 2 agonists, 1 antagonists | General infertile population | Low | High |
Triggering: GnRH agonist | Youssef et al., 2014 | Egypt | 8 RCTs: 8 antagonists | General infertile population | Moderate | High |
Triggering: r-hLH | Youssef et al., 2016a | Egypt | 2 RCTs: 2 agonists | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Elective cryopreservation | Zaat et al., 2021 | Netherlands | 6 RCTs: 3 antagonists, 2 agonists, 1 no GnRH analogs | General infertile population | Low | High |
In vitro maturation of oocytes | Siristatidis et al., 2018 | Greece | 11 prospective and retrospective studies. No cases of OHSS were reported | Patients with and without PCOS | Very low | Low |
Dopaminergic agonists | Tang et al., 2021 | Netherlands | 10 RCT: unknown | General infertile population | Moderate | High |
Diosmin | Tang et al., 2021 | China | 1 RCT: unknown | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Volume expanders: albumin | Youssef et al., 2016b | Egypt | 7 RCTs: 6 agonists; 1 unknown | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Volume expanders: hydroxyethyl starch | Youssef et al., 2016b | Egypt | 2 RCTs: 2 agonists | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Glucocorticoid | Boomsma et al., 2022 | Netherlands | 3 RCTs: 3 agonists | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Luteal phase support: hCG | Van der Linden et al., 2015 | Netherlands | 1 RCT: agonists | General infertile population | Low | High |
Luteal phase support: progesterone | Van der Linden et al., 2015 | Netherlands | 5 RCTs: 5 agonists | General infertile population | Low | High |
Luteal phase support: GnRH agonist (vs. progesterone) | van der Linden et al., 2015 | Netherlands | 1 RCT: agonists | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Intensified luteal phase support: GnRH agonist | Ma et al., 2019 | China | 2 RCTs: 1 agonists; 1 antagonists | General infertile population | Not available | Low |
Calcium infusion | Tang et al., 2021 | China | 2 RCTs: 2 agonists | General infertile population | Very low | High |
Ovarian drilling | Bordewijk et al., 2020 | Netherlands | 1 RCT: agonists | Infertile population with PCOS | Very low | High |