Role of Age as a Major Determinant of Assisted Reproductive Technologies Outcome

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of age on the prediction of the outcome of assisted reproductive technologies. The study included data of 1992 women who had performed ovarian stimulation according to a protocol with a gonadoliberin antagonist or a long protocol and underwent a follicular puncture. Patients were divided into four age groups, where numbers of oocytes collected, number of atretic oocytes and percentage of clinical pregnancies were evaluated. We found significantly reduced average number of oocytes collected with increase of age. In patients with poor ovarian reserve the average age is higher than in patients with good response, i.e. normal ovarian reserve. We  have found clear tendency of decreased clinical pregnancy rate with the increase of women's age. In conclusion, our data show convincingly that age is a strong prognostic marker of ovarian reserve in both quantitative and qualitative terms, estimated by the clinical pregnancies achieved.