Breast cancer is the most common cancer in reproductive age women. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and intention on fertility preservation among women diagnosed to have ...breast cancer. This is a multi-centre cross-sectional questionnaire study. Reproductive age women diagnosed with breast cancer attending Oncology, Breast Surgery and Gynaecology Clinics and support groups were invited to participate. Women filled in paper or electronic form of the questionnaire. 461 women were recruited and 421 women returned the questionnaire. Overall, 181/410 (44.1%) women had heard of fertility preservation. Younger age and higher education level were significantly associated with increased awareness of fertility preservation. Awareness and acceptance of the different fertility preservation methods in reproductive age women with breast cancer was suboptimal. However, 46.1% women felt that their fertility concerns affected their decision for cancer treatment in some way.
Vaccination is a key strategy to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Safety concerns strongly influence vaccine hesitancy. Disease transmission during pregnancy could exacerbate ...risks of preterm birth and perinatal mortality. This study examined patterns of vaccination and transmission among pregnant and postnatal women during the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong.
The Antenatal Record System and Clinical Management System of the Hospital Authority was used to retrieve information concerning the demographic characteristics, vaccination history, COVID-19 status, and obstetric outcomes of women who were booked for delivery at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong and had attended the booking antenatal visit from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.
Among 2396 women in the cohort, 2006 (83.7%), 1843 (76.9%), and 831 (34.7%) had received the first, second, and third doses of COVID-19 vaccine, respectively. Among 1012 women who had received the second dose, 684 (67.6%) women were overdue for their third dose. There were 265 (11.1%) reported COVID-19 cases. Women aged 20 to 29 years had a low vaccination rate but the highest disease rate (19.1%). The disease rate was more than tenfold higher in women who had no (20.3%) or incomplete (18.8%) vaccination, compared with women who had complete vaccination (2.1%; P<0.001).
Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination was low in pregnant women. Urgent measures are needed to promote vaccination among pregnant women before the next wave of COVID-19.
IntroductionLow vitamin D status is prevalent among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The objective of the study is to assess the effect of vitamin D supplementation on (1) the ovulation ...rate to letrozole and (2) other reproductive, endocrine and metabolic outcomes after 1 year of supplementation in women with PCOS.Methods and analysisThis is a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. A total of 220 anovulatory women with PCOS diagnosed by the Rotterdam criteria will be recruited. They will be randomly assigned to either the (1) vitamin D supplementation group or (2) placebo group. Those in the vitamin D group will take oral Vitamin D3 50 000 IU/week for 4 weeks, followed by 50 000 IU once every 2 weeks for 52 weeks. Those who remain anovulatory after 6 months will be treated with a 6-month course of letrozole (2.5 mg to 7.5 mg for 5 days per cycle titrated according to response) for ovulation induction. The primary outcome is the ovulation rate. All statistical analyses will be performed using intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval was sought from the Institutional Review Board of the participating units. All participants will provide written informed consent before joining the study. The results of the study will be submitted to scientific conferences and peer-reviewed journals.Trial registration number NCT04650880.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a well-established method to treat various causes of infertility. Some previous retrospective studies suggested a lower ovarian response in Asian women compared to ...Caucasian women. However, the ovarian stimulation regimens were not standardized, potentially confounding the findings. The objective of this study is to compare the number of oocytes obtained after ovarian stimulation between Chinese and Caucasian women undergoing IVF using a standardized stimulation regimen.
This is a prospective cohort study conducted in two tertiary IVF units in Hong Kong, China and Sydney, Australia from October 2016 to August 2019. A total of 192 women aged 18-42 years with a body weight > 60 kg underwent IVF with a standard ovarian stimulation regimen of 150 micrograms corifollitropin alfa (Elonva®) followed by 200 IU follitropin beta (Puregon®) per day. The number of oocytes retrieved in Chinese women treated in the Hong Kong center was compared to that of Caucasian women treated in the Australian center.
Serum AMH levels were similar between the two groups. Although women in the Chinese cohort were older and had a higher body mass index (BMI), longer duration of infertility and lower antral follicle count (AFC) than those in the Caucasian cohort in this study, no differences in the number of oocytes retrieved 11 (8-17) vs. 11 (6-17), p=0.29, total dosage and duration of stimulation and number of follicles aspirated were noted between the two ethnic cohorts. The peak estradiol level was greater in Chinese women than in Caucasian women. After controlling for age, BMI and AFC, ethnicity was a significant independent determinant of the number of oocytes obtained.
Chinese women had a higher number of oocytes after ovarian stimulation using a standardized stimulation regimen compared with Caucasian women undergoing IVF after controlling for age, BMI, AFC and AMH despite presenting later after a longer duration of infertility.
NCT02748278.
Objective
To compare the intercycle variation of serum anti‐Mullerian hormone (AMH) and antral follicle count (AFC) measurements over four consecutive menstrual cycles.
Design
Observational study ...with secondary analysis using data from two previous randomized controlled trials.
Patients
Seventy‐eight women from two previous randomized trials on the effect of dehydroepiandrosterone pretreatment on ovarian response in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.
Measurements
The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for AFC and AMH across the four study cycles, as well as their predictive performance on poor ovarian response, were compared.
Results
No significant difference was observed in AMH (p = .608) across the four study cycles. AFC was significantly higher at 4 weeks before ovarian stimulation compared with 0, 8 and 12 weeks before ovarian stimulation (p < .05, Conover posthoc test). Both single‐measures and average‐measures ICC were significantly higher with AMH than with AFC. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the four AFC measurements in predicting poor ovarian response (defined as three or less oocytes retrieved) in the IVF cycle ranged from 0.657 to 0.743 with no significant difference (p > .05) among the four cycles, whereas those of the four AMH measurement ranged from 0.730 to 0.780 with no significant difference (p > .05) among the four cycles.
Conclusions
Although both AFC and AMH are good predictors of ovarian response, intercycle repeatability was significantly better with serum AMH than AFC measurement. Both have no significant difference in their predictive performance on poor ovarian response when assessed within three months before IVF treatment, hence allowing pre‐IVF assessment at more flexible timing.
Purpose
To evaluate the effect of basal serum testosterone levels on the ovarian response and the cumulative live birth rate of infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Methods
It is ...a retrospective study in a university-affiliated assisted reproduction center in Hong Kong. Infertile women undergoing the first IVF cycle in the center between December 2012 and November 2016 with archived serum samples and available information on cumulative live birth were included for the analysis.
Results
A total of 1122 women were included for analysis. The median basal serum testosterone level was 0.53 (25–75th percentile: 0.40–0.67) nmol/L. Women with higher basal serum testosterone levels required a lower total dosage of gonadotrophin and a shorter duration of stimulation and had more oocytes retrieved. The cumulative live birth rates did not differ among women with serum testosterone levels in the four quartiles. Basal serum testosterone level was not a significant independent predictor of the cumulative live birth after adjusted for the women’s age and number of normally fertilized oocytes in a binary logistic regression. The areas under the receiver operative characteristics (ROC) curves in predicting low or high ovarian response and the cumulative live birth were all below 0.6.
Conclusion
Higher basal serum testosterone levels were associated with a better ovarian response but had no effect on the cumulative live birth rate of infertile women undergoing IVF.
Heavy menstrual bleeding is a common gynaecological problem, but some women may prefer not to articulate their menstrual problems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness and ...acceptability of the Pictorial Blood Loss Assessment Chart (PBAC) as a selfscreening tool in evaluation of menstrual blood loss among Asian women in Hong Kong.
This prospective cohort study recruited 206 women from the general gynaecology ward and out-patient clinic: 118 had self-perceived heavy menstrual bleeding and 88 had self-perceived normal menstrual flow. Participants were asked to fill in the PBAC for one menstrual cycle.
Compared with women who had self-perceived normal menstrual flow, women with self-perceived heavy menstrual bleeding had significantly higher total PBAC scores and numbers of flooding episodes, larger clot sizes and numbers, more days of bleeding, and lower haemoglobin levels. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated good pairwise associations of self-perceived symptoms with PBAC score and haemoglobin level.
The PBAC can be used to differentiate self-perceived heavy and normal menstrual bleeding in Asian women in Hong Kong. It can also serve as an additional indicator of possible heavy menstrual bleeding to alert women of the need to seek early medical attention.
The evidence as to whether caffeine consumption is beneficial or harmful to human health has been mixed. This study aimed to examine the effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration on the ...association between caffeine consumption and mineral metabolism in pregnant women. This is a cross-sectional study involving pregnant women at their 25th to 35th gestational week recruited at antenatal clinics in the period of July 2019 to December 2020. Peripheral blood samples were collected to determine their total 25(OH)D, albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), calcium, phosphate, and ferritin level in serum. Questionnaires on demographics and dietary intake were also administered. Among 181 pregnant women recruited (Average age = 32.9 years), 50 (27.6%) of them were found to be vitamin D insufficient (25(OH)D concentration < 75 nmol/L), and 131 (72.4%) were vitamin D sufficient (25(OH)D concentration ≥ 75 nmol/L). Adjusted regression models identified an association between higher caffeine intake and lower ALP level only among vitamin D-sufficient pregnant women (β = −0.24, p = 0.006), but not in those with insufficient vitamin D (β = −0.02, p = 0.912). The findings provide new insights into 25(OH)D concentration as a potential modifier of the health effects of caffeine consumption during pregnancy.
Abstract
Objective
The objective of this prospective study is to compare the prevalence and severity of nausea and vomiting in the first trimester between singleton pregnancies conceived from ...stimulated in vitro fertilization (IVF) and frozen embryo transfer cycles (FET).
Methods
All women were recruited at 6 weeks gestation and filled in the modified Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea (PUQE) to document whether they had any experience of nausea and vomiting weekly till 12 weeks gestation. The primary outcome was the prevalence of nausea and vomiting and the secondary outcomes included severity of nausea and vomiting and pregnancy outcomes.
Results
A total of 360 pregnant women were recruited and 171 were in the stimulated IVF group and 189 in the FET group. The overall return rate was 82.2% (81.8% in the stimulated IVF group and 82.5% in the FET group). Nausea and vomiting were worse in the FET group compared with the IVF group. There were significantly more women who felt nauseated or sick in the FET group (p value = 0.032 for week 11 and p value = 0.046 for week 12); significantly more women with a longer duration of nausea in the FET group (p value = 0.044 for week 7 and p value = 0.030 for week 8); significantly more women with more vomiting in a day in the FET group (p value = 0.042) and significantly more women with retching or dry heaves in the FET group (p value = 0.030 for week 8 and p value = 0.028 for week 11).
Conclusion
Nausea and vomiting were significantly more prevalent and severe in the FET group when compared with the stimulated IVF group.
To compare the proficiency and preference of physicians in performing standard tasks in a box trainer using 2-dimensional (2D) versus 3-dimensional (3D) laparoscopy.
Prospective randomized controlled ...trial.
Prospective, randomized controlled trial (Canadian Task Force classification I).
Tertiary care teaching hospital.
Thirty physicians from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Participants were randomly assigned to perform a set of 3 to 4 tasks in a pelvic trainer using 2D laparoscopy first and then 3D laparoscopy, and vice versa.
The time taken to complete the tasks and side effects experienced were noted. Participants were asked to complete a modified Global Operative Assessment of Laparoscopic Skills (GOALS) form at the end of their tasks to evaluate their experiences and to assess their own proficiency with both visual modalities.
The time taken for peg transfer, duct cannulation, and suturing was significantly faster using 3D laparoscopy compared with 2D laparoscopy. There were no significant differences in the time taken for pattern cutting with both visual modalities. Participants experienced more dizziness using 3D laparoscopy (6.9% vs 37.9%; p = .004). The GOALS self-evaluation score was significantly higher for 3D compared with 2D laparoscopy. After the study, 11 of 29 (37.9%) participants preferred 2D, 16 of 29 (55.2%) preferred 3D, and 1 of 29 (8.3%) had no preference.
Although 3D laparoscopy scored higher on self-evaluation and was preferred by more participants, it only gave better objective performance in the completion of some selected tasks by participants with intermediate skill levels and was associated with more dizziness. Further studies are needed to determine the value of 3D laparoscopy, especially when used in the clinical setting.
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