{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T17:10:55Z","timestamp":1780506655084,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,24]],"date-time":"2023-05-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1684886400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite many studies exploring the effects of DHEA supplementation, its application in IVF procedure continues to be a subject of debate owing to the inconsistent findings and the lack of rigorously designed, large-scale, randomized trials. Our review aims to explore the effectiveness of DHEA supplementation in ovarian cumulus cells following IVF\/ICSI treatment. We conducted a literature search of Pub-Med, Ovid MEDLINE, and SCOPUS (inception to June 2022) for all relevant articles, including the keywords of \u201cdehydroepiandrosterone\/DHEA\u201d, \u201coocyte\u201d, and \u201ccumulus cells\u201d. From the preliminary search, 69 publications were identified, and following a thorough screening process, seven studies were ultimately incorporated into the final review. Four hundred twenty-four women were enrolled in these studies, with DHEA supplementation being administered exclusively to women exhibiting poor ovarian response\/diminished ovarian reserve or belonging to an older age demographic. The intervention in the studies was DHEA 75\u201390 mg daily for at least 8\u201312 weeks. The only randomized controlled trial showed no difference in clinical or cumulus cell-related outcomes between the control and treatment groups. However, the remaining six studies (two cohorts, four case-controls) showed significant beneficial effects of DHEA in cumulus cell-related outcomes compared to the group (older age or POR\/DOR) without DHEA supplementation. All studies revealed no significant difference in stimulation and pregnancy outcomes. Our review concludes that DHEA supplementation did show beneficial effect on ovarian cumulus cells in improving oocyte quality for women of advanced age or with poor ovarian responders.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life13061237","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,25]],"date-time":"2023-05-25T01:36:28Z","timestamp":1684978588000},"page":"1237","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Effects of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) Supplementation on Ovarian Cumulus Cells following In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)\/Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) Treatment\u2014A Systematic Review"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Woon Shu","family":"Yuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Reproductive Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0383-572X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Muhammad Azrai","family":"Abu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Reproductive Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohd Faizal","family":"Ahmad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Reproductive Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marjanu Hikmah","family":"Elias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Bandar Baru Nilai 71800, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdul Kadir","family":"Abdul Karim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Reproductive Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UKM Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1144","DOI":"10.1093\/humrep\/deh870","article-title":"Definition and prevalence of subfertility and infertility","volume":"20","author":"Gnoth","year":"2005","journal-title":"Hum. 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