Table 1.
PICOS elements of the review protoco
| Parameter | Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
|---|---|---|
| P articipants | • Couples 18 years of age and older with infertility | |
| I nterventions | • IVF/ICSI | • GIFT/ZIFT |
| • In vitro maturation | ||
| C omparators | • Spontaneous/natural conception | Studies comparing different drugs or drug regimens used |
| • Less invasive ARTs (ovulation induction, intrauterine insemination) | • Studies assessing pre-treatment characteristics, such as embryo and uterine preparation techniques or hysteroscopy, or treatment ‘add-ons’, such as preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) or assisted hatching (AH) | |
| • Procedural differences, including: | ||
| - the number of embryo’s transferred | ||
| - blastocyst vs. cleavage embryo transfers | ||
| - frozen vs. fresh embryo transfers | ||
| - autologous vs. donor embryo transfers | ||
| O utcomes | Safety: | • Studies without any defined clinical outcomes |
| • Neonatal/infant complications (e.g., ectopic pregnancy, low birth weight, neonatal/perinatal mortality, birth defects, congenital malformations) | ||
| • Pregnancy and delivery complications (e.g., OHSS, ectopic pregnancy, preeclampsia, caesarean delivery, preterm birth) | ||
| Effectiveness: | ||
| • Indicators of cycle success (e.g., number of oocytes retrieved, cycle cancellation, implantation) | ||
| • Pregnancy, miscarriage, live birth | ||
| • Multiple pregnancy/multiple birth | ||
| S tudy design | • Systematic reviews | Primary studies* |
*Primary studies will be included if evidence gaps are identified after review of systematic reviews.