Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on November 25, 2005
Human Reproduction 2006 21(3):713-720; doi:10.1093/humrep/dei390
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Antenatal care in singleton pregnancies after ICSI as compared to spontaneous conception: data from a prospective controlled cohort study in Germany
1 Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 2 Institute of Cancer Epidemiology and Institute of Social Medicine, University of Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, 3 Congenital Malformation Monitoring-Centre Saxony-Anhalt, Faculty of Medicine, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg and 4 ENDOKRINOLOGIKUM Hamburg, Zentrum für Hormon- und Stoffwechselerkrankungen, Reproduktionsmedizin und Gynäkologische Endokrinologie, Germany
5 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University of Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck Germany, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany. E-mail: A.K.Ludwig{at}web.de
BACKGROUND: The aim was to compare the antenatal care and the intake of vitamins and medications of infertility patients with singleton pregnancies after ICSI to women with a spontaneously conceived singleton pregnancy. METHODS: The data on the antenatal care of 2055 singleton pregnancies after ICSI from a prospective controlled multicentre study in Germany were analysed. The prospectively collected data of the control group of 7861 singletons were retrospectively assessed for the present analysis. RESULTS: The ICSI patients were significantly older (32.9 versus 27.0 years, P < 0.019) and more likely to be obese (body mass index 
30 kg/m2: 13.9 versus 4.8%, P < 0.001) than the controls. The control mothers were significantly more likely to smoke (19.2%) or to consume alcohol (23.5%) during pregnancy than the ICSI mothers (7.4 and 0.6% respectively). Only 38.1% of ICSI patients took folic acid before conception. Only 61.7% of ICSI patients received an iodine supplementation at some point during pregnancy. ICSI patients went more regularly to the routine antenatal care consultations at the gynaecologist and had ultrasound examinations performed more regularly than the controls. The absolute number of ultrasound examinations was significantly higher in the ICSI group (13.6 ± 6.0 versus 4.1 ± 2.4). CONCLUSION: In spite of the intensive use of antenatal medical care by patients pregnant after ICSI, simple methods, such as the use of supplementary iodine and periconceptional folic acid, were used rarely. This indicates that counselling pregnant patients after ICSI about periconceptional and antenatal care seems to be insufficient in Germany and must be improved.
Key words: antenatal care/follow-up/ICSI/medication/pregnancy complication