Living in a neighbourhood with an average low socioeconomic status is associated with lower cumulative ongoing pregnancy rate after in vitro fertilization treatment

Research question Is there an association between neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the cumulative rate of ongoing pregnancies after 2.5 years of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment? Design A retrospective observational study was conducted, involving 2669 couples who underwent IVF or IVF-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment between 2006 and 2020. Neighbourhood SES for each couple was determined based on their residential postal code. Subsequently, SES was categorized into low (p80). Multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were conducted with the cumulative ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years as the outcome variable. SES category (ref. cat.: High), female age (ref. cat: 32-36), BMI (ref. cat: 23-25), smoking status (yes/no), number of oocytes after the first ovarian stimulation, embryos usable for cryopreservation after the first cycle, duration of subfertility before treatment and insemination type were employed as covariates. Results A variation in ongoing pregnancy rates was observed among SES groups following the first fresh embryo transfer. No difference was found in the average number of IVF treatment cycles performed. The cumulative ongoing pregnancy rates differed significantly between SES groups (Low; 44%, medium; 51%, high; 56%, P= <0.001). Low neighbourhood SES was associated with significantly lower odds for achieving an ongoing pregnancy within 2.5 years (OR = 0.66 (95%CI 0.52-0.84) P=<0.001). Conclusion Low neighbourhood SES, when compared to high neighbourhood SES, is associated with reducing odds of achieving an ongoing pregnancy within 2.5-years period of IVF treatment.