Womens’ IVF success rates ‘drop rapidly’ after 37

IVF success rates for women drop dramatically after the age of 37, a new study has found. Picture: Getty

A WOMAN’S age affects the outcome of every single step of the “emotional rollercoaster” of fertility treatment, according to a new study by Scottish researchers.

Medical experts at Aberdeen University have found that the chances of women, undergoing IVF treatment, becoming pregnant start to decline by their mid 30s. And then the prospects of having a baby plunge rapidly from the age of 37 onwards.

The study, published today in Plos One, part of the Public Library of Science, is the first study of its kind to break down failure rates for each stage of IVF for different age groups.

A university spokeswoman said: “The duration of fertility problems prior to IVF treatment is also associated with poor outcomes at every step. However, its impact on treatment is not as great as that of age.”

The researchers studied data from 121,744 women from across the UK who underwent their very first cycle of IVF between 2000 and 2007 using their own eggs. Some of the cycles had intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) - a procedure used in IVF where there is male fertility, where the sperm is injected directly into the egg.

The study found that women embarking on ICSI treatment have a lower chance of treatment failure. But this advantage is lost at a later stage of treatment once embryos are created, suggesting that ICSI embryos do not appear to have better chances of implanting.

Siladitya Bhattacharya, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Aberdeen University, led the research. He said: “IVF comprises a number of key steps, each of which has to be successfully achieved before the next stage can be attempted. We found that age impacted on every single hurdle that has to be overcome during the emotional rollercoaster that is IVF.”

He explained that the study had found that women’s chances of having a baby following IVF start to decline by their mid-30s but from 37 onwards these go very rapidly downhill.

Even after a pregnancy has been confirmed, women aged 38 to 39 are 43 per cent more likely to have a miscarriage than women aged 18 to 34, while women aged 40 to 42 are almost twice as likely to lose the baby as 18 to 34-year-olds.

Prof Bhattacharya continued: “This influence of age is sustained at each stage of the IVF process. There is no point during an IVF treatment - even in women who have done well in a preceding stage - when age ceases to matter.

“Age has the capacity to increase the risk of treatment failure even in women who respond to hormonal treatment, have eggs harvested and embryos replaced.

He added: “Many couples want to understand how their chances of having a baby evolve over the course of an IVF treatment. Previous work has been able to offer a global prediction of success in IVF. We hope our study provides a more accurate and dynamic way of predicting a couple’s chances of treatment failure as they negotiate each step of IVF.”