BACKGROUND:

Infertility affects fifteen percent of couples who wish to conceive. The mainstay of artificial re-productive technologies is in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET), in which aspirated oocytes are fertilized, followed by the trans cervical replacement of an embryo(s) into the uterine cavity. However, the practice of assisted reproductive technology is loaded with short- and long-term complications. Complications may occur during the course of stimulation, ovum pickup, or embryo transfer. Ample studies are done on in vitro fertilization, but the frequency and im-portance of complications of IVF in low-resource settings where the treatment itself is not widely available are not well known.

OBJECTIVE:

This study aimed to determine the rate of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS) and asso-ciated factors among women who underwent controlled ovarian stimulation and IVF in a public IVF center in Ethiopia.

METHODOLOGY:

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to review the medical records of women who have undergone ovarian stimulation and IVF treatment at the Saint Paul’s Hospital Center for Repro-ductive Medicine and IVF.

RESULTS:

A total of 428 clients had controlled ovarian stimulation and IVF. The mean age of the partici-pants was 33 years. Among 428 couples who had IVF, majority 245 (57%) had IVF for female fac-tor infertility, followed by male factor infertility 89 (20%), and unexplained causes 53 (12%). The incidence of OHSS in our IVF population was 19 (4.4%) out of 428 women. Out of the 19 patients with OHSS, 17 (89%) developed mild and moderate symptons,and 2 out of 19 (10 %) had severe OHSS. The odds of developing OHSS was 6 times higher among those with PCOS, OR 5.78 CI (1.19, 28.22), p value of 0.03.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

The overall rate of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome is higher in our IVF population. Emphasis should be given on thorough counseling and risk minimizing measures when women with PCOS undergo controlled ovarian stimulation.