Success Rates by Age

The Impact of Age on IVF Success Rates

When attempting in vitro fertilization (IVF), 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 are able to retrieve, the greater the chance that IVF will be successful. First, having more eggs gives us more opportunities for fertilization. Second, women who respond well to the stimulation drugs sometimes have better quality eggs. Both of these factors increase the likelihood of having high-quality embryos.

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When it comes to female age, ovarian reserve, and egg quality, there are several factors to keep in mind:

• Women under 35 typically have the highest number of high-quality eggs.

• 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