Effects of Female Age on Pregnancy Outcome in IVF-ET Patients Undergoing Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Kim, S H; Jung, B J; Jee, B C; Kim, H S; Ryu, B Y; Oh, S K; Suh, C S; Choi, Y M; Kim, J K; Moon, S Y; Lee, J Y

Abstract

Fertility in women begins to decline with age, and this decline may be resulted from a reduction in conception rate and an increase in spontaneous abortion rate. In vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the effects of age on reproductive efficiency. In this study, to evaluate the influence of female age on the outcomes of ICSI in IVF-ET, 106 couples undergoing 216 cycles of IVF-ET with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was participated from May, 1995 to Jun, 1997. The grouping in age was as followings; Group A<30 years, Group B 30~34, Group C 35~39, and Group D> or =40. The fertilization rates were not significantly different among the age groups (62.9%, 67.5%, 63.8%, 76.1%, respectively). No significant difference in the embryo cleavage rate was observed among Groups B, C, and D (92.5%, 95.7%, 98.3%, respectively), but a significant negative linear correlation was observed between female age and cumulative embryo score (CES). Female age did not affect the clinical pregnancy rate, but had a significant impact on the ongoing pregnancy rate (34.5%, 14.4%, 16.7%, 0%, respectively). There was a trend of increase in the spontaneous abortion rate with age, but without statistical significance (9.1%, 23.8%, 18.2%, and 100%, respectively). These data suggest that female age may be a prognostic indicator of ICSI as in conventional IVF-ET especially regarding to the ongoing pregnancy, and also emphasize that, in order to achieve a higher ongoing pregnancy rate, ICSI should be performed as soon as diagnosis made.