| Lopéz-Pelayo et al., 2018 |
Spain, 2018 Single-center |
189 women |
189 women undergoing infertility treatment at the center in 2016. The women were allocated to one of the culture media depending on the week of oocyte retrieval. The type of media was changed weekly. |
A retrospective study with the fewest participants included in this review. Good description of the methods, inclusion criteria of the groups and definitions of outcomes. |
| Gu et al., 2016 |
China, 2016 Single-center |
2370 singletons. 1755 cases from fresh embryo transfer and 615 from frozen embryo transfer. |
Singletons born alive after 28 weeks of gestation who underwent IVF/ICSI cycles in the center between June 2009 and October 2012. Large proportion of embryos cultured in SAGE (SAGE 1336, Vitrolife 419). Gradual change from most embryos cultured in SAGE in 2009 and most embryos cultured in Vitrolife in 2012. |
Large group of children. Good description of the methods. Good explanations about birthweight values, which are the focus of the study. Some of the values are adjusted for gestational age and gender. Pregnancies lost to follow up were excluded from data analysis. There is a risk that some of the babies are born to the same woman. |
| De Vos et al., 2015 |
Belgium, 2015 Single-center |
2098 singleton live births resulting from only singleton pregnancies were included |
Data was collected between April 2004 and December 2009. Medicult was used between April 2004 and April 2009. Vitrolife G3 was used from October 2004 and followed by G5 from September 2008 until December 2009. |
The study has one table for birthweight showing the combined G3/G5 media compared to Medicult and a table comparing G3 to G5 media. Both are non-significant. |
| Lin et al., 2015 |
China, 2015 Single-center |
8686 embryo cycles cultured in G5. 7706 embryo cycles cultured in G5 Plus. 7089 embryo cycles cultured in Global Medium. |
Women who underwent IVF at the center between 2011 and 2013. One type of culture media was typically used for 3 days and then changed to another culture medium. |
Large number of embryos. Clinical pregnancy rate is the only relevant outcome since focus is ectopic pregnancies in IVF-born children compared to spontaneous pregnancies. Not a good description of the distribution of the culture media, but it must be presumed that the embryos were cultured in only one of the three culture media, despite the change in media after three days. Data distinguishes between G5 and G5 Plus series. |
| Lin et al., 2013 |
China, 2013 Single-center |
1201 singletons and 445 sets of twins |
Women who underwent IVF at the center between 2008 and 2010. Singletons and twins born alive after 20 weeks of gestation. No information about the distribution and time of use of the different culture media at the center. |
Large group of children. Good description of the methods. Multiple linear regression was performed to find confounding factors. No explanation about when the center used the different culture media. |
| Eskild et al., 2013 |
Norway, 2013 Single-center |
2435 singletons |
Singleton births from IVF/ICSI born after 22 weeks of gestation in the years 1999-2011. The culture media depends on the year: 1999-2007 Medicult Universal IVF Medium 2008-2009 Medicult Universal for fertilization and ISM1 for embryo culture 2009-2011 Vitrolife G-IVF Plus for fertilization and G-1 Plus for embryo culture. |
Large group of children and data from many years. The focus is comparison between IVF children and spontaneous births. The comparison between the culture media is a comparison of different years where laboratory routines may differ. Linear regression was performed to find confounding factors. Adjustments were made for maternal age, number of previous deliveries and gestational age. There is a risk that some of the babies are born by the same woman. |