Inositol supplement improves clinical pregnancy rate in infertile women undergoing ovulation induction for ICSI or IVF-ET

OBJECTIVE: Pretreatment of myoinositol is a very new method that was evaluated in multiple small studies to manage poor ovarian response in assisted reproduction. This study was to determine the efficacy of myoinositol supplement in infertile women undergoing ovulation induction for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or in vitro fertilization embryo transfer (IVF-ET). METHODS: A meta-analysis and systematic review of published articles evaluating the efficacy of myo-inositol in patients undergoing ovulation induction for ICSI or IVF-ET was performed. RESULTS: Seven trials with 935 women were included. Myoinositol supplement was associated with significantly improved clinical pregnancy rate [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04–1.96; P = .03] and abortion rate (95% CI, 0.08–0.50; P = .0006). Meanwhile, Grade 1 embryos proportion (95% CI, 1.10–2.74; P = .02), germinal vescicle and degenerated oocytes retrieved (95% CI, 0.11–0.86; P = .02), and total amount of ovulation drugs (95% CI, –591.69 to –210.39; P = .001) were also improved in favor of myo-inositol. There were no significant difference in total oocytes retrieved, MII stage oocytes retrieved, stimulation days, and E2 peak level. CONCLUSIONS: Myoinositol supplement increase clinical pregnancy rate in infertile women undergoing ovulation induction for ICSI or IVF-ET. It may improve the quality of embryos, and reduce the unsuitable oocytes and required amount of stimulation drugs.