The Effects of Hydroxychloroquine on Pregnancy Outcomes in Infertile Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Publisher Pubmed



Mirzaei M¹ ; Amirajam S² ; Moghimi ES³ ; Behzadi S⁴ ; Rohani A⁵ ; Zerangian N⁶ ; Samani NK^{7, 8} ; Soudagar S⁹ ; Ghazanfarpour M¹⁰
Source: Journal of Medicine and Life Published:2023

Abstract

A promising strategy for controlling repeated implantation failure (RIF) may be the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). To the best of our knowledge, no systematic review has been conducted on the effects of hydroxychloro-quine on pregnancy outcomes. A systematic research of the following electronic databases was conducted: Cochrane, EMBASE-Ovid, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus from inception to December 2021, using the following key-words [hydroxychloroquine] AND [infertility]. Fertilization and rate of live birth were significantly higher in the HCQ+ prednisone (PDN) group than in the PDN alone group. However, the abortion rate was not different between the two groups. The meta-analysis of two studies revealed no statistical significance between the PDN group and HCQ+PDN group regarding clinical pregnancy rate (OR=.14 [95%CI: 0.4–4.370]; heterogeneity; P=0.13; I2=54%; random effect model) and implantation rate (OR=1.99 [95%CI: 0.94–4.2]; heterogeneity; P=0.37; I2=0%; fixed-effect model). While HCQ may help improve fertilization and live birth rates, adding it to prednisone did not improve overall pregnancy outcomes. This systematic review should be used with caution due to the small size, study design, and difference in the studies' population. © 2023 JOURNAL of MEDICINE and LIFE.