UTRECHT, Netherlands, March 2 (UPI) -- A Dutch meta-analysis found no clear benefit from the hormone glucocorticoids used to enhance the effectiveness of infertility treatments.
"This meta-analysis shows that empirical use of glucocorticoids is not supported by evidence from studies," said lead review author Carolien Boomsma, a researcher at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands, said in The Cochrane Library.
"Moreover, we don't know enough about the possible adverse effects of glucocorticoids in early pregnancy. Therefore, at present, glucocorticoids should not be prescribed in this way."
The steroid hormones have potent effects on the body's inflammatory and immune responses, so many fertility specialists prescribe them in hopes of making the lining of the uterus more receptive to embryo implantation, according to Boomsma.
The review compared success rates between would-be mothers who took glucocorticoids around the time of embryo implantation and those who did not from pooled data from 13 studies including 1,759 couple in randomized controlled trials.
