JBRA Assisted Reproduction 2025;29(Suppl.2 SBRA 2025):219
Poster Presentation
29^th Annual Congress of the SBRA. São Paulo/SP - Brazil, 2025
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20263863

P-207. Serum C-reactive protein and intermediate IVF outcomes: preliminary results from a prospective cohort study

Paula Barros Terraciano¹, Julia Klockner¹, Ivan Sereno Montenegro¹, Clarissa Comaru Fidelis¹, Marcella Corbellini Eick², Elisa Weirich Braido¹, Julia Almeida Varella¹, Isabel Oliveira Durli¹, Markus Berger¹, Eduardo Pandolfi Passos³

¹ Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre – Porto Alegre - RS – Brasil
² Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Porto Alegre - RS – Brasil
³ Hospital Moinhos de Vento - Porto Alegre – RS - Brasil

Objective: To evaluate the association between serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and intermediate outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF), such as fertilization and cleavage rates, in women undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation.
Methods: This is a preliminary analysis of an ongoing prospective cohort study involving women undergoing IVF in a public hospital. All the procedures were approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (number 2025-0138). Serum CRP was measured at two timepoints: during the early follicular phase (basal CRP) and on the day of oocyte retrieval. Demographic and clinical variables (age, BMI, infertility etiology) were collected. Intermediate embryological outcomes included the number of fertilized oocytes and cleaved embryos. Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to assess associations between CRP levels and IVF outcomes. This analysis includes 19 patients with complete data.
Results: Among the 19 patients analyzed, the mean basal CRP was 6.2 mg/L (range: 0.0–31.1), and the mean post-stimulation CRP was 7.9 mg/L (range: 0.9–42.9). The average number of fertilized oocytes was 3.4, and cleaved embryos was 2.5. Pearson's correlation revealed a weak inverse association between basal CRP and embryo cleavage (r=–0.30; p=0.236), and a weaker correlation with post-stimulation CRP (r=–0.19; p=0.471). Associations with fertilization were negligible (r=–0.15 and –0.07, respectively). Although no correlation reached statistical significance, the results suggest a possible negative influence of systemic inflammation on early embryo development.
Conclusion: Preliminary data from this cohort support the hypothesis that systemic inflammation, reflected by serum CRP levels, may negatively affect intermediate IVF outcomes—particularly cleavage. Basal CRP appears more informative than post-stimulation CRP in this context. These findings support the potential role of CRP as a candidate biomarker in reproductive medicine. Ongoing data collection will allow for more robust analyses and a clearer definition of its clinical relevance in assisted reproduction.