BACKGROUND:

As demand for assisted reproduction techniques has increased, so have concerns about associated perinatal outcomes and whether they are different from spontaneously achieved pregnancies.

OBJECTIVE:

to describe and compare perinatal outcomes of pregnancies achieved by assisted reproduction versus spontaneous pregnancies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Observational, cross-sectional, retrospective, analytical study. Pregnancies with resolution within the institute were included; those with an incomplete clinical record, termination of pregnancy before 22 weeks were excluded. The main perinatal results in both types of pregnancies were analyzed and compared. The analysis of the association between assisted reproduction therapy and perinatal complications was made by a simple logistic regression and adjusted for confounding variables.

RESULTS:

Of 448 cycles initiated, 98 pregnancies achieved by assisted reproduction were analyzed, observing in single pregnancies; lower probability for preterm newborns (p <0.05) and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (p <0.05) and in multiple pregnancies; a significant probability to present threat of preterm delivery versus spontaneous pregnancies (p <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

There were fewer perinatal complications in single pregnancies for assisted reproduction and in multiple pregnancies a greater probability of threat of preterm delivery without a higher prevalence of preterm newborn, concluding that having an adequate preconceptional multidisciplinary management has a greater weight in perinatal outcomes than Fertilization technique assisted by itself.