Blastocyst quality and perinatal outcomes in women undergoing single blastocyst transfer in frozen cycles

Is the morphological grading system for blastocysts associated with perinatal outcomes in women undergoing frozen-thawed single blastocyst transfer (SBT)?

Preferential transfer of a blastocyst based on their inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) grading appears to be supported by observed differences in perinatal outcomes.

The transfer of a morphologically good quality blastocyst is associated with a higher chance of implantation and pregnancy as compared to transfer of a poor quality blastocyst. However, to date, the association of the morphological parameters of the blastocyst with perinatal outcomes after blastocyst transfer remains unknown.

This retrospective cohort study started with 27 336 frozen-thawed SBT cycles from January 2013 to December 2019.

There were 7469 women with singleton deliveries in Peking University Third Hospital eligible for analysis. Multivariate logistic regression was used to test the risk of factors with the expression of crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted OR with 95% CIs.

Transfer of a blastocyst with a low overall grading was associated with a higher chance of female baby (48% vs 42%, adjusted OR = 1.26 (1.13, 1.39)) and a higher rate of caesarian section (C-section; 71% vs 68%, adjusted OR = 1.15 (1.02, 1.29)). Compared with Grade A ICM blastocyst transfer, Grade B ICM and Grade C ICM blastocyst transfers were associated with a lower chance of a female baby (adjusted OR = 0.83 (0.73, 0.95), 0.63 (0.50, 0.79), respectively) and a higher risk of large for gestational age (LGA; adjusted OR = 1.23 (1.05, 1.45), 1.47 (1.12, 1.92), respectively); Grade C ICM blastocyst transfer was also associated with an increased risk of macrosomia (adjusted OR = 1.66 (1.20, 2.30)). Compared with Grade A TE blastocyst transfer, there was an increased risk of small for gestational age with Grade C TE blastocyst transfer (adjusted OR = 1.74 (1.05, 2.88)). Both Grade B TE and Grade C TE blastocyst transfer had a higher chance of female baby (adjusted OR = 1.30 (1.11, 1.53), 1.88 (1.57, 2.26), respectively) and a lower risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (adjusted OR = 0.74 (0.59, 0.94), 0.67 (0.50, 0.88), respectively) than Grade A TE blastocyst transfer.

The main limitations of this study were its retrospective nature and the relative subjectivity of blastocyst scoring. The follow-up was conducted through a phone call and some patients may not have reported their obstetrical and neonatal outcomes, leading to a relatively lower rate of several obstetrical outcomes. Due to the missing information in our dataset, we were not able to separate out iatrogenic preterm birth nor adjust for obstetric complications in previous pregnancies as a confounder in the mutivariate analysis. Because the days of blastocyst culture in total were unclear in our dataset, analysis of the association between the time to reach blastocyst expansion and perinatal outcomes was not performed.

Transfer of a blastocyst with a low overall grading is associated with a higher rate of C-section and a higher chance of a female baby. The association between ICM grading and LGA would suggest that Grade A ICM blastocysts should be transferred preferentially to Grade B/C ICM blastocysts. Our results support the use of current morphological systems for embryo prioritization.

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1004100 to R.L.), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (81925013 to R.L.) and a Zhejiang University Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Candidates (to K.-L.H.). All authors have read the journal's authorship agreement and policy on disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, and have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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