Study of Oral Dehydroepiandrosterone(DHEA) to Treat Previously Unexplained Infertility (DHEAFert)

September 28, 2015 updated by: Center for Human Reproduction

A Randomized Double Blinded Trail of DHEA Supplementation for Treatment of Couples With Normal Hysterosalpingogram and Normal Semen Analysis and Evidence of Premature Ovarian Aging (POA).

The experimental focus of this project is on the interaction of DHEA treatment on pregnancy in women with otherwise unexplained infertility and evidence of premature ovarian aging (POA).

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Recruitment:

Eligible patients will be recruited by advertising on the web and in newspaper. We will screen women under 38 years old with regular menstrual cycles and more than one year of infertility.

Experimental plan:

  1. Informed consent

  2. Baseline studies

    • Antral follicle counts on Day 2 - 3 of cycle
    • Day 3 Serum FSH, LH, E2, Prog, DHEA, DHEAS, testosterone, AMH, Fragile X

  3. Randomization for pretreatment

    • Group A: DHEA (25 mg three times per day)
    • Group B: Placebo

  4. Monitoring during treatment

    • All participants will have:
    • USG for follicle measurement
    • Repeat serum, FSH, E2, DHEA, DHEAS, testosterone, AMH monthly during treatment.
    • Physical examination
    • Completion of study questionnaire regarding possible androgen effects of treatment

  5. Analysis plan:

    • Primary Outcome
    • Pregnancy
    • Pregnancy rates will be compared using logistic regression with age and pre-treatment AMH as covariates.
    • Secondary Outcomes
    • Endocrine Factors
    • Androgen side effects
    • Primary analysis. We will perform a factorial ANOVA for the two pretreatment factors DHEA and Placebo. Baseline AMH and age as main covariates
    • Secondary analysis.
    • Examine rate of change of estradiol and other endocrine response over the four cycles of pretreatment
    • Compare antral follicle counts across pretreatment cycles between groups
    • Compare possible androgen related effects
    • Power considerations:
    • Power assumptions: alpha 0.05; 80% power
    • Pregnancy rate for unexplained infertility is 2% per cycle.
    • Intervention will improve pregnancy rate to 5% per cycle.
    • Patients will be treated for 8 cycles.
    • Cumulative pregnancy rate for control patients - 13%
    • Cumulative pregnancy rate for Treated patients - 30%
    • Require 91 patients to complete treatment in each group.
    • Allow for 20% dropout ( 91* 1.2) will need 109 patients randomized to each group.
    • Randomization:

Randomization will be by permuted blocks in order to maintain an even distribution among the groups (because of the small numbers of participants)

  • Human subjects issues
  • Potential risks associated with DHEA use
  • Potential risk of delay of treatment for 8 months and possible natural continued loss of fertility
  • Informed consent issues

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

35

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10021
        • Center For Human Reproduction

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 37 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • >= 1 year of infertility
  • < 38 years old
  • Normal HSG
  • Normal Semen analysis (Count >= 20 million/ motility > 50%/ Kruger morph > 14%.
  • Regular menses
  • Willingness to sign informed consent for study randomization
  • Willingness to participate in 8 months of non-IVF will he him treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Abnormal semen analysis
  • Abnormal HSG
  • Baseline FSH/E2 within normal age specific criteria
  • Medical condition that would contraindicate pregnancy, ovulation induction or general anesthesia
  • Family history of significant genetic disease, or factor V leiden thrombophilia
  • Inability to present for monitoring visits
  • Inability to follow medication instruction
  • Desire to undergo other fertility treatments before completing eight months of this trial

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: DHEA
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) administered at a dose of 25 mg tid po. DHEA is a weak androgen produced naturally by the adrenal in men and women. DHEA production is diminished with increasing age. Peak levels of DHEA occur in the late teenage years.
Dietary supplement: Dehydroepiandrosterone
25 mg PO TID
Other Names:
  • DHEA
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Blinded placebo
Other: Placebo
Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Live Birth
Time Frame: 24 months
24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Clinical Pregnancy
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months
Endocrine effects
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months
Androgen side effects
Time Frame: 12 months
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Center for Human Reproduction

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Norbert Gleicher, MD, Center For Human Reproduction
  • Principal Investigator: David Barad, MD, MS, Center For Human Reproduction

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 31, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 1, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

April 2, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 30, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 28, 2015

Last Verified

September 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CHR2008 1.0

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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