Korean J Fertil Steril.  2000 Sep;27(3):261-266.

Influence of Maternal Age on Embryo Quality and the Frequency of Multiple Pregnancy in IVF-ET Program

• Lee MS
• Park JO
• Jung JH
• Park JS
• Kang HG
• Kim DH
• Lee HJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study was performed to evaluate the influence of maternal age on embryo quality and the frequency of multiple pregnancy in IVF-ET program. METHOD: 86 conventional IVF-ET cycles were divided into three groups according to the age by 5 year (group A: 26-30, group B: 3135, group C: 36-40 yrs). The in vitro fertilization and development outcome (fertilization, cleavage and high quality embryo rate) and the pregnancy outcome (pregnancy, implantation, G-sac/high quality embryo and multiple pregnancy rate) were examined. And then, these results were compared among the groups.
RESULTS
The rates of fertilization (62.7, 68.5 and 65.4%, respectively) and cleavage (95.6, 97.6 and 98.0%, respectively) were not different among the groups. And the high quality embryo (HQE) rate also was not different among the groups (61.8, 62.9 and 62.8%, respectively). The pregnancy rate of group C (23.3%) was significantly lower than that of group A (41.2%) and B (48.7%). And the implantation rate was significantly decreased to group B (32.2%) and C (14.3%) when compared to group A (71.4%) and B (36.8%).
CONCLUSION
The pregnancy rate was significantly decreased over 35 years. The G-sac/HQE and multiple pregnancy rate were significantly high below 31 years. Thus, these results suggest that the number of high quality embryo transferred should be limited by the age and another criteria for embryo quality evaluation were required for single embryo transfer.

MeSH Terms

Embryonic Structures*
Female
Fertilization
Fertilization in Vitro
Maternal Age*
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Outcome
Pregnancy Rate
Pregnancy, Multiple*
Single Embryo Transfer