Life table (survival) analysis to generate cumulative pregnancy rates in assisted reproduction: an alternative method of calculating the cumulative pregnancy rate in assisted reproduction technology.

The current method of calculating cumulative pregnancy rate can lead to an overestimation of treatment efficacy, especially over many cycles of assisted reproduction treatment. The choice of scale of passage of time should be dependent upon the types of treatment to be evaluated. The number of treatment cycles to which patients' effort and commitment is directly related may be appropriate where the chance of pregnancy is expected to be significantly higher than non-treatment for them. Limiting the calculation of cumulative pregnancy rate only to the second or third cycle within 1 or 2 years will ensure that most patients are included in the calculation. More research is needed to assess different methods and develop better variables for assessing the efficacy of infertility treatment that can be informative for patients over the course of their treatment.