A CHEAP hormone treatment could double struggling couples’ chances of pregnancy, a study shows.
Queen Mary University of London researchers found 15 per cent of women with unexplained fertility issues got pregnant if they used vaginal progesterone therapy.
GettyVaginal progesterone therapy could double struggling couples’ chances of pregnancy, a study shows[/caption]
Only seven per cent of women who were not given it conceived in the same period.
Researchers say further research is needed to prove the treatment — which costs less than £171 for three months — is effective.
Dr Claudia Raperport said: “Given its safety and low price, there is no harm in offering this treatment in the meantime.
“The cost of progesterone is minimal compared to the cost of IVF and other fertility treatments.
“It also carries far less clinical risk, and physical and emotional burden for the couples involved.
“We need to do further research to prove these results in a larger group of people, but this trial suggests a potential treatment for couples with unexplained fertility.”
Around one in seven UK couples suffer from fertility problems, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
A third have unexplained infertility, when no cause can be identified in either partner.
They are often prescribed IVF if they want to have children, which can cost around £5,000 per cycle privately if they are unable to get it on the NHS in their area.
Progesterone is usually prescribed to women during the menopause to help counter the effects of plummeting natural hormone levels.
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, looked at whether it could be used to help fertility.
Researchers tracked pregnancy rates in 143 couples who had unexplained infertility in Britain.
Half were given treatment of 400 milligrams of progesterone twice a day for two weeks after they ovulated over three menstrual cycles.
The drug was taken as a vaginal suppository.
They were more than twice as likely to become pregnant, although researchers say larger studies are needed to prove the drug’s benefits.
Dr Raperport said: “It could be that treating women with vaginal progesterone is helping the womb to become more receptive to a fertilised egg.”
Independent experts said the study suggests the drug could help couples struggling with a “frustrating” unexplained infertility diagnosis.
Professor Richard Anderson, of the University of Edinburgh, said: “Treatment with progesterone for just the two weeks after ovulation can improve their chances.
“This trial offers the hope that this simple and cheap treatment may help couples’ chances of successful pregnancy.”