Number of eggs retrieved at 35 If you are 35, you should aim to freeze at least 10 eggs. One egg freezing cycle resulted in 12 eggs frozen on average for this age group. So many women only needed to do one cycle of egg freezing to achieve the optimal egg number!
For example, a woman at 30 often has around 100,000-150,000 eggs in reserve. By 35, that number is likely around 80,000. Late into the thirties, that number could be 25,000, 10,000, or fewer.
Women under 38 in our IVF program have acceptable live birth rates even with only 3 – 6 eggs, do better with more than 6 eggs, and do best with more than 10 eggs. Women 38-40 and 41-42 years old have low live birth rates with low egg numbers. Success rates are much better when relatively high egg numbers are obtained.
For women who are 34-37 years old with normal ovarian reserve, one would expect on average 13 eggs per retrieval. Therefore, it may take 2 egg retrievals to reach the desired number of mature eggs of about 15-20.
Both egg quantity (the number of eggs a woman has available for fertilisation also called as ovarian reserve) and egg quality (the eggs that are genetically normal) decrease as woman ages. This decrease starts to accelerate by age 35 to 37 and dramatically decreases after age 40.
The woman's age has a crucial importance for egg quality. This fact cannot be emphasized enough. Studies have shown that the ability to have children for women aged 36 are only half as good as in women who are 20 years of age.
The short answer is there isn't a standard maximum IVF age limit. Although rare, women over 50 have had successful pregnancies with IVF.
Realistically, you can always undergo IVF unless you have experienced ovarian failure and/or menopause. However, pregnancy success rates using your own eggs drops considerably for women over 40.
IVF Success Rates Under 35
The Society for Reproductive Technology (SART) states that for women under 35, the percentage of live births via IVF is 55.6%. Live births per first embryo transfer is 41.4%. With a later embryo transfer, the live births percentage is around 47%.
Many people think that the embryo transfer is the most stressful part of in vitro fertilization (IVF). But for me, and most of the other women I've spoken to, it's egg retrieval that's most difficult.
Optimal Number of Eggs
Researchers analyzed thousands of IVF cycles between 1991 and 2008 and created a model based on age, the number of eggs retrieved, and success rates. They found that 15 was the magic number.
Irregular period cycle and difficulty conceiving
If you are facing issues conceiving and have not been able to conceive for a while now, it could be one of the signs of bad egg quality.
The study published by the University of St. Andrews and Edinburgh University in Scotland found that women have lost 90 percent of their eggs by the time they are 30 years old, and only have about 3 percent remaining by the time they are 40.
Pregnancy rates are lower from eggs frozen after the age of 35 so it is often recommended to freeze eggs much earlier. For women wishing to delay fertility after forty years of age, using donated eggs from a younger woman is often advised.
While there are couples who come in, are diagnosed, and get pregnant via IVF in the first round – they are an anomaly. Most couples have to undergo that previously mentioned three IVF rounds or more.
Research has shown that a woman's fertility levels return to normal one to two months after donation. However, in the one to two months immediately following donation, fertility levels are actually heightened.
Dr. John Zhang says a 49-year-old patient at his New Hope Fertility Center gave birth this month to a baby conceived with her own egg frozen at age 48 — the oldest on record. “She's beautiful and healthy,” the jubilant mom e-mailed friends after delivering her long-awaited daughter.
The graph above shows that on the average IVF success rates using own eggs starts to drop at about 30 and drops faster in the mid 30s and early 40s. This drop is caused by decreasing egg quantity and quality. Live births are rare at age 44 and above using the female partner's eggs.
At age 40 and above women have reduced fertility potential as compared to that seen in younger women. They also have substantially lower success rates with fertility treatments including in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The first IVF cycle will often be successful at a high quality program. Unfortunately, many couples will not have successful first cycle IVF results and will need to consider a second cycle.
But age 35 is not without significance. Fertility declines with age due to two factors: a decrease in egg count, as women lose eggs each month; and a decrease in egg quality, as naturally, with age, their eggs are more likely to contain chromosomal abnormalities (mistakes in their DNA).
The longer your eggs have been around, the more likely they are to produce a pregnancy with a chromosome problem that can lead to a condition like Down syndrome. This risk goes up significantly after 35. Meanwhile, the number of eggs you have decreases as you get older, causing your ability to get pregnant to decline.
This is true not only for natural conception but also for assisted conception. According to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, about 95% of women aged 35 who have regular unprotected sexual intercourse will get pregnant after three years of trying, but for women aged 38, only 75% will do so2.