Dehydroepiandrosterone improves follicular fluid bone morphogenetic protein-15 and accumulated embryo score of infertility patients with diminished ovarian reserve undergoing in vitro fertilization: a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on infertility patients with diminished ovarian reserve undergoing in vitro fertilization. METHODS This is a prospective study. Ninety-five patients with diminished ovarian reserve were included in this study. Of them, 42 patients were randomly allocated to the DHEA group, who received DHEA 75 mg daily for three consecutive menstrual cycles prior to IVF cycles, and 53 patients were allocated to the control group, who entered IVF cycles directly. All patients were treated with the same ovarian stimulation protocol. Follicular fluid samples from both groups were collected for bone morphogenetic protein-15 (BMP-15) and growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF-9). Fluid from the first aspirated follicle without any visible blood contamination was carefully collected. In addition, day 3 Blood samples were collected pre- and post-treatment of DHEA for serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol (E2) in the DHEA group. RESULTS The level of BMP-15 in follicular fluid samples from the DHEA group was significantly higher than that of the control samples (P=.000). Patients after DHEA treatment demonstrated a significantly higher level of AMH and a significantly lower level of FSH, E2 compared to themselves prior to DHEA therapy (P=.015; P=.036; P=.002; respectively). Moreover, the accumulated score of embryos was significantly higher in the DHEA group (P=.033). CONCLUSIONS These observations confirm the beneficial effect of DHEA for infertility patients with diminished ovarian reserve. TRIAL REGISTRATION ChiCTR-TRC-14005002.