The Impact of Ovarian Stimulation Approaches on Donation Outcomes of Egg Donors: A Critical Review of Published Randomized Clinical Trials

Choosing an evidence-based approach to ovarian stimulation in order to maintain the donor's health is of high importance. Selecting studies with optimal quality is crucial to obtain best evidence. This study was conducted to critically review the published randomized clinical trials on the impact of ovarian stimulation approaches on donation outcomes of egg donors.

In this critical review, databases including ISI, Scopus, PubMed, EMBASE, Magiran, and SID were searched using keywords of ovulation induction, ovarian stimulation, oocyte donation, and ovum donation and their Persian equivalents, with no time limit. All randomized human clinical trials on ovarian stimulation in egg donors published in Persian or English were included. Exclusion criteria were lack of access to the full-text or non-compliance with the principles of RCTs. Articles were evaluated using Consort Checklist 2010. The scoring range was 0-32. Articles were classified based on their quality to poor, moderate, good and excellent quality.

The mean score of 19 evaluated articles was 21.31±4.76 and 66.59, which indicates 66.55 percent compliance to the Consort Checklist. The lowest and highest scores were 14 and 32. In relation to the main parts of the published articles, the order of compliance to Consort checklist sections was as follows: findings (61.9%), method (66.1%), discussion (78.9%), title and abstract (84.2 %), and introduction (100%).

The quality of reviewed articles was moderate. To improve the quality of reporting clinical trials, researchers must consider necessary components and standards of reporting research method and findings with accuracy.