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Seasonal variation, temperature, day length, and IVF outcomes from fresh cycles

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Abstract

Purpose

It is known that delivery rates from spontaneous conception vary according to season which may be due to cultural or environmental factors; however, conflicting data exist regarding whether outcomes from IVF are also seasonally dependent. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that the season at oocyte retrieval is associated with livebirth after fresh transfer.

Methods

Dates of oocyte retrieval for all autologous cycles in our IVF program between January 2012 and December 2017 were categorized by season. Dates were linked to local temperature (min, max, average) and day length obtained from meteorological records. Average maximum temperature and day length were categorized into tertiles. Multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for age and quadratic age, were used to model odds (aOR) of implantation, clinical pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, and livebirth.

Results

Patient characteristics were similar across seasons. As expected, temperature and day length varied by season. When compared with cycles started during winter, there was no difference in the age-adjusted odds of livebirth for the other three seasons (spring: aOR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.82–1.13; summer: aOR: 1.05, 0.90–1.23; fall: aOR: 0.98, 0.84–1.15). There was a positive linear trend between temperature and odds of implantation, and clinical pregnancy (p value, test for linear trend (implantation, p = 0.02; clinical pregnancy, p = 0.01)) but no association with livebirth for temperature or day length.

Conclusions

We found that season at oocyte retrieval was not associated with livebirth, contrary to patterns seen in naturally conceived populations. However, our data did suggest modestly higher odds of clinical pregnancy for retrievals in June and July, and that higher temperature at time of retrieval was associated with higher odds of clinical pregnancy but not livebirth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, 1295 N. Martin Ave, PO Box 245211, Tucson, AZ, 85724, USA

    Leslie V. Farland

  2. Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA

    Katharine F. B. Correia

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Stacey A. Missmer

  4. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

    Stacey A. Missmer

  5. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Catherine Racowsky

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  1. Leslie V. Farland
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  2. Katharine F. B. Correia
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  3. Stacey A. Missmer
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  4. Catherine Racowsky
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Correspondence to Leslie V. Farland.

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Farland, L.V., Correia, K.F.B., Missmer, S.A. et al. Seasonal variation, temperature, day length, and IVF outcomes from fresh cycles. J Assist Reprod Genet 37, 2427–2433 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-020-01915-2

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