prognostic factors of pregnancy in 500 cases of intrauterine insemination in babol, northern iran

background: intrauterine insemination (iui) is a primary, simple and effective method of infertility treatment. the aim of this study was to determine the success rate of iui and some related male and female factors. materials and methods: this quasi - experimental study was done on 500 infertile couples from 2006 to 2008. either clomiphene or human menopausal gonadotropin (hmg) alone or clomiphene with hmg was used for ovulation induction. patients were subsequently followed by vaginal sonography. when at least one follicle of 16 mm or more in diameter was noted, patients were administered 5000 iu human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg) and 36 hours later, iui was done. age, duration of infertility, follicle number, treatment regimen, etiology of infertility and the outcome was recorded for every patient. results: in this study, the pregnancy rate was 19.6%. in pregnant women, the mean age was lower than non - pregnant women (p=0.004). the mean duration of infertility in pregnant women was significantly lower than others (p =0.002), but the number of dominant follicle, type of treatment regimen and etiology of infertility did not show significant differences between pregnant and nonpregnant women (p >0.05). conclusion: the result of this study showed that etiology of infertility, type of treatment regimen for induction ovulation and the number of dominant follicles did not correlate with pregnancy occurrence in an iui cycle, but the womens’ ages and duration of infertility correlated with the occurrence of pregnancy.