title: Assisted reproduction in women over 40 years of age: how old is too old?
abstract: Women's fertility progressively declines with advanced age due to depletion of the ovarian follicular reserve and poorer oocyte quality. However, many women of advanced age are eager to conceive from their own ova. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of IVF cycles among older patients. All IVF retrievals performed in the unit in patients >or=42 years old between 1998 and 2006 were retrospectively analysed. Data were compared with patients <35 years old treated in the unit during the same time period. A total of 843 IVF retrievals in 459 patients >or=42 years old were assessed. Clinical pregnancy rates per cycle were 7.7%, 5.4% and 1.9% for 42, 43 and 44 years old, respectively. Only one IVF cycle in patients aged 44 years resulted in delivery. None of the 54 cycles performed in women of 45 years or older resulted in a pregnancy. A marked decline in clinical pregnancy and delivery rates, accompanied by an increase in spontaneous abortion rates, was found in patients >or=42 years old. In view of these results and as the option of egg donation is a promising alternative with delivery rates close to 50%, it appears that IVF treatment should be limited to patients not older than 43 years old with adequate ovarian response.
authors.affiliation: IVF Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chaim Sheba Medical Centre, Tel-Hashomer, Affiliated to the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. arieliris@bezeqint.net
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hourvitz
authors.forename: Ronit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Machtinger
authors.forename: Ettie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maman
authors.forename: Micha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baum
authors.forename: Jehoshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dor
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Levron
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D054315:Oocyte Retrieval / Q000191:economics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D012189:Retrospective Studies