THE EFFECTS OF CLOMIPHENE CITRATE ON NORMALLY OVULATORY WOMEN

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of clomiphene citrate (CC) on n ormally ovulatory women who complained of infertility. Design: A rando mized study. Setting: University Hospital. Patient(s): Thirty-three no rmally ovulatory women with unexplained infertility. Intervention(s): Eighteen women received CC at a 50-mg dosage. Fifteen women received n o ovulation-induction drugs. Main Outcome Measures: The pregnancy rate (PR) per patient, the PR per cycle, and the cumulative pregnancy rate . Result(s): Seven patients in the CC group stopped taking CC, and obs ervations were terminated because of antiestrogenic effects. The pregn ancy rate (PR) per patient and the PR per cycle were significantly dec reased (P <0.005) in the CC group (4 of 18 [22.2%] and 4 of 66 [6.1%], respectively) than in the spontaneous group (11 of 15 [73.3%] and 11 of 52 [21.2%], respectively). Kaplan-Meier tests showed that the cumul ative pregnancy rate in the CC group was significantly lower than in t he spontaneous group (P <0.05). Five of seven patients who had stopped taking CC became pregnant in spontaneous cycles. Conclusion(s): Admin istration of CC to normally ovulatory women is not efficacious in term s of increasing the pregnancy rate. (C) 1997 by American Society for R eproductive Medicine.