European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: Infertility is a public health problem associated with medical, emotional, social, and financial consequences. Recent study on infertility suggests that in India, approxi- mately 15 to 20% of married couples in the reproductive age group suffer from infertility and its incidence is on the rise. Artificial reproductive techniques (ARTs) including IVF/ICSI and ET have been a major development in the treatment of infertility. Objective: To compare reproductive outcomes of day 2 and day 3 embryo transfer (ET). Materials and methods: In this retrospective records study, all couples who underwent in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) and ET cycles at International Fertility Center, Delhi, India over a period of 1 year were studied. Data were collected and analyzed by chi-square test and unpaired t-test by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 19. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the clinical and demographic parameters of group day 3 and day 2 ET. In our study, clinical pregnancy rate was 45% in day 3 ET and 36.5% in day 2 ET group [odds ratio (OR) 1.43, p-value 0.49]. The ongoing pregnancy rate was 39.2% in day 3 ET and 26.9% in day 2 ET group (OR 1.75, p-value 0.26). We observed that the miscarriage rate was 5.9% in day 3 ET and was 5.8% in day 2 ET group (p-value 0.69, OR 1.02). We observed one case each of multiple pregnancies, ectopic pregnancy, and fetal anomaly (anencephaly) in day 2 ET group, while in day 3 ET group, no such case was detected. Conclusion: There are chances that day 3 ET has better clinical and ongoing pregnancy rates than day 2 ET, but the difference is not statistically significant. Study showed similar miscarriage rates in both groups and very low incidence of complications like multiple pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, and fetal anomaly. So, it is safe to schedule and transfer embryos either on day 2 or on day 3 for planning and programming cycles in coordination with patient and IVF team and for adjusting weekends (nonworking days).