Table 1 PICOS elements of the review protoco

• Couples 18 years of age and older with infertility

• IVF/ICSI

• GIFT/ZIFT

• In vitro maturation

• Spontaneous/natural conception

Studies comparing different drugs or drug regimens used

• Less invasive ARTs (ovulation induction, intrauterine insemination)

• Studies assessing pre-treatment characteristics, such as embryo and uterine preparation techniques or hysteroscopy, or treatment ‘add-ons’, such as preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) or assisted hatching (AH)

• Procedural differences, including:

- the number of embryo’s transferred

- blastocyst vs. cleavage embryo transfers

- frozen vs. fresh embryo transfers

- autologous vs. donor embryo transfers

Safety:

• Studies without any defined clinical outcomes

• Neonatal/infant complications (e.g., ectopic pregnancy, low birth weight, neonatal/perinatal mortality, birth defects, congenital malformations)

• Pregnancy and delivery complications (e.g., OHSS, ectopic pregnancy, preeclampsia, caesarean delivery, preterm birth)

Effectiveness:

• Indicators of cycle success (e.g., number of oocytes retrieved, cycle cancellation, implantation)

• Pregnancy, miscarriage, live birth

• Multiple pregnancy/multiple birth

• Systematic reviews

Primary studies*