Age and its Impact on IVF Outcomes
In today’s society, people are changing and planning their families according to their lifestyle, income level, and other factors. This has now made most of the women to have children later in life.
Back then in the early 90s, women used to get pregnant at the age of 19 to 21. Today the median age of women becoming first-time mothers is 28. And it may go up to 30 or more in the next five to six years.
Age plays an important role in determining fertility in women. Women in their early 20s are the most fertile and rarely face any issues in conceiving. But, women in their late 30s can face difficulty in getting pregnant naturally because as the age increases the fertility rate in women goes on decreasing.
Age can indeed be the cause of your infertility.
However, the medical field has come up with a solution, where women in their early or late 30s can get pregnant. The solution is In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Let’s Understand
What is IVF?
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a procedure that helps infertile couples to get pregnant or conceive a child. It is a group of various procedures that include:
- Ovarian stimulation
- Egg retrieval
- Sperm collection
- Fertilization
- Embryo culture
- Embryo transfer
In this procedure, the egg is retrieved from the woman’s ovaries and fertilized with the sperm taken out from her partner’s body. Both the egg and sperm are fused in a lab dish. After the fertilization is successful and embryos are formed, the fertilized egg is transferred back to the woman’s uterus to establish a successful pregnancy.
IVF is a type of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) used to help people conceive a baby when they are facing difficulty in getting pregnant naturally.
It is clear how IVF works, now let’s delve into the main topic of this blog which says
How Age Impacts IVF Outcomes?
As mentioned, women in their early 20s have the highest fertility rate and can experience healthy pregnancies. It is essential for women looking forward to becoming mothers through IVF, to be aware of the varying success rates of pregnancy across different age groups.
| Woman’s age | Success Rate |
|---|---|
| Age under 35 | 40-50% |
| Age b/w 35-37 | 30-40% |
| Age b/w 38-40 | 20-30% |
| Age Over 40 | Below 20% |
It is a fact that IVF success rates majorly depend on the age of the woman, if a woman wasn’t able to conceive a child through IVF then age may be a cause of unsuccessful IVF pregnancy. There are multiple reasons why age becomes a barrier in unsuccessful pregnancy, some of them are given below:
- An aging woman produces less nutritious eggs which prevents fertilization; leading to infertility.
- Aging women can get affected by uterine fibroids and endometriosis causing difficulties in getting pregnant.
- Aging women can experience chromosomal problems like Down syndrome and miscarriage that can affect the results of IVF.
How Does Father’s Age Impact Pregnancy and Infant Health?
Not only women but men’s age also affects the success rate of pregnancy. According to the best IVF doctors in Lucknow, the medical field needs to clarify the age of fathers that can affect IVF success rates.
Only a few studies have looked into this matter and have indicated that success rates of IVF may decrease when the male partner is 51 years old.
According to best IVF centers in Alambagh, random genetic changes in the sperm of older men compared to younger men can cause various pregnancy issues, such as stillbirths, miscarriages, heart problems, neural tube anomalies, and abnormal cranial development.
Other than these, infants can be affected by autism and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
A father’s age can also impact the success rate of pregnancy, but this area needs to be looked upon by the doctors so that more accurate solutions can be derived.
Now let’s understand how age influences the various aspects of IVF:
- Egg Quality and Quantity
- Women under the age of 35 have a higher quantity and better quality of eggs. Thus they experience higher IVF success rates
- Women between the age group of 35-37 have a noticeable decline in egg quality and quantity. The success rate may start decreasing.
- Women under the age of 38-40 experience a continuous decline in their egg quality and quantity leading to a decrease in success rates and risk of miscarriage.
- Women over the age of 40 often have fewer and lower-quality eggs. These age groups commonly use egg donors for successful IVF
- Embryo Quality
Older women have a higher risk of getting their embryos affected by chromosomal abnormalities that can lead to lower implantation rates and higher miscarriage rates.
To overcome this and improve the success rates Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) can be used to screen embryos for chromosomal abnormalities.
- Ovarian Response
Younger women respond better to ovarian stimulation as compared to older women. This is because older women may have diminished ovarian reserve. This means that fewer eggs are available for retrieval and fertilization.
- Considerations for Older Women
- Donor eggs: Older women can experience pregnancy with the help of using eggs from a younger donor. This can increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.
- Lifestyle and health: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, managing stress, and exercising regularly can also help in improving the IVF success rates.
In conclusion
Age is a major reason considered when the results of IVF are unsuccessful. Other than that there can be other reasons as well that can affect the success rates. Some can be explored and diagnosed while others can have many alternate solutions to improve the success rates.
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