Spontaneous conception after a successful attempt at in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection

B Hennelly, Hennelly B, Bernadette Hennelly, R F Harrison, Robert F. Harrison, Harrison RF, J. Kelly, Joan Kelly, Kelly J, Saji Jacob, Jacob S, S Jacob, Tom Barrett, T Barrett, Barrett T
Fertility and sterility · 2000 · vol. 73(4) , pp. 774–778 · doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(99)00609-3 · PMID:10731540 · W2043794510
Observational OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-07-24 ⓘ

A retrospective study found a 20.7% spontaneous conception rate after successful IVF, with younger women and those with shorter infertility durations having higher rates.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of spontaneous pregnancy in women who were not actively undergoing therapy after a successful attempt at IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection and to characterize its pattern of occurrence. DESIGN: Retrospective postal questionnaire. SETTING: An assisted reproduction unit at a university-based teaching hospital. PATIENT(S): Five hundred thirteen replies were received from 530 questionnaires mailed. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Spontaneous pregnancy. Women who did and did not conceive spontaneously after successful IVF treatment were compared in terms of their age, duration of infertility, previous reproductive history, and indication for treatment at the time of assisted reproduction. RESULT(S): The rate of spontaneous conception among the survey respondents was 20.7%. Younger women (</=34 years of age) had a higher rate of spontaneous conception, as did those with a shorter duration of infertility. Women with unexplained infertility and endometriosis also were more likely to conceive. Few of those who had undergone intracytoplasmic sperm injection conceived, whereas 21.6% of those whose partners had had sperm quality sufficient for IVF later conceived spontaneously. CONCLUSION(S): The chances of spontaneous conception after successful ART therapy are significant in some groups of patients. This has implications for the practice of assisted reproduction and the obstetric care of patients who conceive with treatment. Contraceptive advice may need to be provided to couples who undergo IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

MeSH descriptors

Fertilization Fertilization Fertilization in Vitro Fertilization in Vitro Infertility Adult Adult Female Female Humans Humans Infertility Infertility Infertility Maternal Age Maternal Age Pregnancy Pregnancy Pregnancy Rate Pregnancy Rate

Citation neighborhood (sparse)

Too few in-corpus citations on either side for a chart; here are the lists.

Cited by (3)

References (23)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-20T06:13:28.455750+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T20:59:21.759586+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK