Women who are past their mid-30s may struggle to achieve successful pregnancy from one of the most advanced "test-tube" techniques, a major European conference heard today.
The analysis, reported to the conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, looks at the effect of age on the success of ICSI – the injection technique that implants a sperm directly into an egg.
Between the ages of 38 and 40 failure rates doubled, researchers found, and by the age of 43 a woman is odds on likely to lose the baby she is hoping to give birth to.
The findings come from a study of more than 23,000 procedures carried out in Brussels, Belgium, over an 18 year period and reported to the conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
The researchers found that up to the age of 37 about one in six pregnancies would end in the loss of the baby. This approached 34 per cent by the age of 40 – and after that rose alarmingly to more than 56 per cent.
The study also found that a woman’s fertility – measured by the number of eggs she produced during treatment – was also a key indicator of her chances during pregnancy.
Researcher Eleonora Jansen, of the Centre for Reproductive Medicine, UZ Brussel, said: "The study also shows a strong increase in first trimester pregnancy loss after the age of 38, with an even more pronounced increase after the age of 40.
"These findings illustrate the important risks associated with the delay of childbirth to more advanced ages, especially until after the age of 38."
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