Abstract
Introduction Recent studies have addressed the role of micronutrients in
fertilization, such as vitamin D. The present study aims to explore the effects
of using calcitriol, an active form of vitamin D, on IVF results in women with
vitamin D deficiency.
Method This double-blinded randomized clinical trial was done on 180
infertile women, undergone IVF treatment. Out of them, 95 were found to have
vitamin D deficiency (blood serum 25-dihydroxy vitamin D <30
ng/ml). Fifty one women in experimental group were treated with two 0.25
µg calcitriol pills daily during 4 weeks (discontinued 8 hours prior to
the embryo transfer) and 44 subjects to the placebo group (mean vitamin D
deficiency 27.5 ±1.8 in case group vs. 27.6±1.8 in control
group, P>0.05). Final analysis includes outcomes of chemical and
clinical pregnancy was done on 74 women (including 36 in case and 38 in control
group).
Results Our study showed that in the experimental group, chemical
pregnancy success was significantly higher than that in the control group, 31.4
vs. 18.2% (P<0.05). However, there were no significant
differences between the 2 groups in reaching the clinical pregnancy stage
(25.5% in case group vs. 13.6% in control group) and
continuation of pregnancy into week 20 (9.8% in case group vs.
11.6% in control group) (P>0.05).
Conclusion Calcitriol administration by improving the implantation
process can significantly increase the chances of successful IVF cycle results
in infertile women with vitamin D deficiency.
Key words
calcitriol-IVF - infertility - pregnancy rate
