SOME common fertility treatments are no more effective than leaving things to Mother Nature, research suggested today.
Scientists at Aberdeen and Oxford universities conducted a study into the drug clomifene citrate and artificial insemination involving couples throughout Scotland.
The study found that couples using either method did not have significantly higher
chances of falling pregnant than those conceiving naturally.
Some of the research was conducted using patients at the Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, as well as hospitals in Dundee, Falkirk and Glasgow.
Experts writing in the British Medical Journal said current guidelines needed to be reviewed in light of the findings.
One in seven couples in the UK experience infertility.
Interventions to help these couples have been used for many years in line with fertility guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).
For the study, 580 women comparable in terms of age, body weight and the men's sperm quality were divided into groups.
One third were given sex advice and left to try to conceive naturally; one third were given clomifene citrate, which is inexpensive and is believed to correct subtle ovulatory dysfunction; while the remaining third were artificially inseminated without ovary stimulation. At the end of the study there were 101 live births.
There were 32 births among the 193 women trying to conceive naturally (17 per cent), compared with 26 among those on the drug (14 per cent) and 43 among those having insemination (23 per cent).
Although those receiving insemination had a higher rate of pregnancy, the experts said this was not significant enough to be solely down to the procedure.
The experts said: "Clomifene citrate or unstimulated intrauterine insemination seems to be no more effective than expectant management in couples with unexplained fertility."
The researchers concluded: "These interventions, which have been in use for many years, are unlikely to be more effective than no treatment. These results challenge current practice, as endorsed by a national guideline in the UK."
Siladitya Bhattacharya, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Aberdeen, who led the study said that while the results appeared to show the drug was less effective than trying to conceive naturally, this was not statistically significant.
He added: "The data does not show that there's any difference between the drug and no treatment, and IUI and no treatment."
The full article contains 402 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
