Predictive Factors for Live Birth in Autologous in Vitro Fertilization Cycles in Women Aged 40 Years and Older

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to determine predictive factors for live birth after in vitro fertilization with autologous oocytes in women ≥40 years of age. METHODS: Authors conducted a retrospective analysis of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles performed at the Department of Reproductive Medicine and Gynecologic Endocrinology, University Medical Centre Maribor, Slovenia between January 2006 and December 2015 in women aged 40 or more. The characteristics of patients and cycles were compared regarding live birth as the final outcome. RESULTS: A total of 1920 IVF/ICSI cycles with egg retrieval in women ≥40 years of age were performed leading to 1591 embryo transfers. The live birth rate per embryo transfer was 17.3% at 40, 11.6% at 41, 8.2% at 42, 7.9% at 43, 1.9% at 44 and 0.0% at ≥45 years of age. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that besides women’s age (OR 0.66, 95% CI: 0.55–0.78), the number of previous cycles (OR 0.88, 95% CI: 0.82–0.95), number of good quality embryos on day 2 (OR 1.19, 95% CI: 1.05-1.36), number of embryos transferred (OR 1.57, 95% CI: 1.19–2.07) and day 5 embryo transfer (OR 2.21, 95% CI: 1.37–3.55) were also independent prognostic factors for live birth. CONCLUSIONS: The chance of in vitro fertilization success in women ≥40 years of age should not be estimated only on the woman’s age, but also on other predictive factors: number of previous cycles, number of good quality embryos on day 2, number of transferred embryos and blastocyst embry transfer.