Outcome of in vitro Fertilization in Women > or =40 Years of Age

Kwon, Cheo Jin; Lee, Sang Hee; Kang, Eun Hee; Kim, Jong Sik; Jung, Byeong Jun

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the outcomes of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in women over 40 years of age.
METHODS
A total of 170 patients (271 cycles) over 40 years of age who underwent IVF-ET at Seoul Women's Hospital (Incheon, Korea) were analyzed in this study retrospectively. The patients were grouped into the women <44 years old group and the women > or =44 years old group. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t-test and Fisher's exact test as appropriate.
RESULTS
An overall clinical pregnancy rate per retrieval was 11% (30/271). Of these, clinical miscarriage rate were 33% (10/30) and the overall delivery rate was 7.4% (20/271) per retrieval, respectively. The women > or =44 years old group had significantly higher cancellation rate (13% vs. 25%), lower number of retrieved oocytes (6.17+/-4.62 vs. 4.13+/-4.07), decreased number of 2PN (4.83+/-3.61 vs. 3.46+/-3.12), and reduced embryos for transfer (3.52+/-1.72 vs. 2.81+/-1.83) than the women <44 years old group. We found significantly lower clinical pregnancy rate (13.0% vs. 2.1%) and live birth rate (9.0% vs. 0.0%) in the women > or =44 years old group than the women <44 years old group.
CONCLUSION
The present study has shown that IVF outcome is seriously impaired in the women > or =44 years old.