Comparison of Letrozole versus Clomiphene Citrate on Ovulation and Achieving a Successful Pregnancy

Am: To compare the effectiveness (in terms of achieving pregnancy) of letrozole vs clomiphene citrate in anovulatory infertile women. Methods: This randomized controlled trial study was carried out at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, Sialkot from March 2106 to September 2016. A total of 224 patients, 18 to 40 years of age with anovulatory infertility were included. Patients with H/o previous surgery, hypothyroidism and hyperprolactinemia were excluded. Then selected patients were placed randomly into two groups i.e., Group A (clomiphene citrate) & Group B (letrozole), by using lottery method. Outcome variable like effectiveness was noted. Results: The mean age of women in group A was 26.72 +/- 6.02 years and in group B was 26.87 +/- 6.33 years. Majority of the patients 148 (66.07%) were between 18 to 30 years of age. Mean duration of infertility was 3.47 +/- 2.21 years. The mean duration of infertility in group A was 3.23 +/- 2.19 years and in group B was 3.68 +/- 2.34 years. Effectiveness of Group A (clomiphene citrate group) was 19 (16.96%) while in Group B (letrozole group) was 37(33.04%) (p-value = 0.005). Conclusion: This study concluded that letrozole is better and more efficacious in terms of achieving pregnancy in the treatment of anovulatory infertility as compared to the clomiphene citrate.