Risk Factors Associated with Recurrent Pregnancy Loss and Outcome of Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening of Affected Couples

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a multifactorial disorder which affects up to 5% of couples. Several factors are considered to be involved in RPL; however, in 35–60% of cases, the etiology remains unexplained. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of risk factors associated with this phenomenon as well as pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) outcomes achieved by array comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), in 602 Iranian couples with RPL.Materials and Methods: Clinical data were analyzed to assess possible associations between various factors and RPL. Karyotyping was performed using standard cytogenetic techniques. PGS using FISH and array-CGH was applied for pre-implantation embryos of the RPL patients.Results: Data analysis revealed a frequency of 15.61% chromosomal abnormalities in RPL couples. Also, the reciprocal translocations were more frequent (33/1204 cases) compared to the other structural abnormalities. In couples with normal karyotype, the live birth rate after PGS, as assessed by array-CGH and FISH, was 70.37 and 55%, respectively.Conclusion: Our findings could confirm a positive correlation between chromosomal abnormalities and RPL. In addition, applying PGS for the patients who suffer from RPL leads to improvement of pregnancy success rate.