Number of eggs retrieved and IVF success rates according to female age

When attempting in vitro fertilization, the level of response of the ovaries varies greatly when women take the injectable FSH drugs for ovarian stimulation . This leads to a range of eggs being retrieved at the egg retrieval procedure.

Before we stimulate the woman with the FSH containing drugs, antral follicle counts are the best predictor of the response the ovaries will give, and the number of eggs that will be retrieved.

To a great extent, the more eggs we have to work with, the greater the chance that IVF will be successful. There are several issues involved with this:

• More eggs will give us more fertilized eggs – which results in more likelihood of having good quality
• Women that respond well to the stimulation drugs sometimes also have better egg quality – and therefore could be more likely to have some high quality embryos.

Egg quantity and quality issues related to ovarian reserve and egg supply

Click here to view the SART Snapshot Report for AFCC.

 The data in the graph above shows that:

• Women under 35 have the highest success rates in all of the “egg number” groups
• Women under 38 in our IVF program have acceptable live birth rates even with only 3 – 6 eggs, do better with more than 6 eggs, and do best with more than 10 eggs.
• Women 38-40 and 41-42 years old have low live birth rates with low egg numbers. Success rates are much better when relatively high egg numbers are obtained.
• All age groups have very low success rates with less than 3 eggs retrieved

This is another example of decreasing egg quality with increasing female age. As women age, we need more eggs to be able to make IVF work – because of the lower quality of the eggs.

This is why IVF centers stimulate women in order to get sufficient eggs

• Women under 35 have the highest success rates in all of the “egg number” groups
• Women under 38 in our IVF program have acceptable live birth rates even with only 3 – 6 eggs, do better with more than 6 eggs, and do best with more than 10 eggs.
• Women 38-40 and 41-42 years old have low live birth rates with low egg numbers. Success rates are much better when relatively high egg numbers are obtained.
• All age groups have very low success rates with less than 3 eggs retrieved

This is another example of decreasing egg quality with increasing female age. As women age, we need more eggs to be able to make IVF work – because of the lower quality of the eggs.