Abstract:Objective To investigate the suboptimal response and clinical outcomes of long- and short-acting gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) in fresh transfer cycles of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) with long protocol. Methods Six hundred and six IVF/ICSI fresh transfer cycles with long protocol in our hospital from April 2013 to November 2014 were recruited in this study. The women were 35 years old or younger. The patients with normal ovulation accepted pituitary desensitization during long protocol at mid-luteal phase, whlie the patients with ovulation failure underwent oral contraceptives (OC) pretreatment. Group A consisted of cycles with long-acting GnRH-a down-regulation, while group B consisted of cycles with short-acting GnRH-a down-regulation. Results The mean gonadotropin (Gn) stimulation days, the number of retrieved oocytes, fertilization rate, cleavage rate and high-quality embryo rate were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, there were significant differences in the average total Gn doses [(2235.27 ± 1521.61) IU vs (2063.29 ± 677.50) IU], slow reaction rate (8.06% vs 1.73%), clinical pregnancy rate (50.33% vs 40.94%) and implantation rate (33.45% vs 27.98%) between the groups A and B (P < 0.05). Conclusions The long-acting GnRH-a protocol results in higher clinical pregnancy and implantation rates, however, increases the total amount of Gn and the probability of occurrence of slow reaction compared to the short-acting GnRH-a protocol. Patients with normal ovarian reserve could have a better clinical outcome if slow reaction is effectively treated in long-acting GnRH-a long protocol.