Utility of the national embryo morphology data collection by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART): correlation between day-3 morphology grade and live-birth outcome

Analysis of the “grade” field in the first embryo morphology data collected under the classification system developed by Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) and reported to the SART Clinic Outcomes Reporting System (SART CORS) database showed that when two embryos of the same grade were transferred on day 3, the live-birth rate declined with decreasing grade (<35 years old: good = 50.4%; fair = 42.2%; poor = 22.0%; ≥35 years old: good = 35.1%; fair = 23.4%; poor = 20.0%). These findings provide the first evidence that collecting the “grade” field in the national morphology collection system is valid and can be developed into a standard for use by individual SART programs for quality assurance assessment and for improved embryo selection.