Does a strategy to promote shared decision-making reduce medical practice variation in the choice of either single or double embryo transfer after in vitro fertilisation?: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVES: The hypothesis that shared decision-making (SDM) reduces medical practice variations is increasingly common, but no evidence is available. We aimed to elaborate further on this, and to perform a first exploratory analysis to examine this hypothesis. This analysis, based on a limited data set, examined how SDM is associated with variation in the choice of single embryo transfer (SET) or double embryo transfer (DET) after in vitro fertilisation (IVF). We examined variation between and within hospitals. DESIGN: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial. SETTING: 5 hospitals in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: 222 couples (woman aged