Ovulation induction in women age 40 and older: the importance of basal follicle-stimulating hormone level and chronological age

A C Pearlstone, Anthony C. Pearlstone, Nicole Fournet, N Fournet, J C Gambone, Joseph C. Gambone, S C Pang, Samuel C. Pang, Richard P. Buyalos, R P Buyalos
Fertility and sterility · 1992 · vol. 58(4) , pp. 674–679 · doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(16)55310-2 · PMID:1426308 · W3123017015
Other OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 12 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study investigated the impact of basal follicle-stimulating hormone levels and chronological age on ovulation induction success in women aged 40 and older.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To determine pregnancy and livebirth rates for women age 40 and older undergoing ovulation induction and to assess the impact of basal follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) on outcome in these patients. DESIGN: Prospective, observational. SETTING: Fertility service of university medical center. PATIENTS: Infertile couples in whom the female partner was age 40 or older referred for ovulation induction therapy. INTERVENTION: Assessment of basal hormonal status; ovulation induction. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical pregnancy rate (PR), livebirth rate. RESULTS: Analysis of 402 cycles in 85 women age 40 and older demonstrated a clinical PR of 3.5% per cycle (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7% to 5.3%). The livebirth rate was 1.2% per cycle (95% CI 0.1% to 2.3%). Women with a basal FSH < 25 IU/L and age or = 25 IU/L or age was > or = 44 (P < 0.005). The prognostic importance of basal FSH and chronological age was confirmed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. The predictive value of the resulting regression equation was high (R2 = 0.94; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy and livebirth rates are generally low during ovulation induction in women age 40 and older. In combination, basal FSH and chronological age are accurate predictors of PR, in these couples and can define a subset of patients with a more favorable prognosis. The spontaneous abortion rate in women who do conceive is high, substantially lowering the livebirth rate.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

MeSH descriptors

Follicle Stimulating Hormone Maternal Age Ovulation Induction Pregnancy Pregnancy, High-Risk Adult Age Factors Birth Rate Female Follicle Stimulating Hormone Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Multivariate Analysis Pregnancy Prospective Studies

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (16)

Cited by (11)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-05-14T06:20:05.154166+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:01:56.755204+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-09-17T06:32:46.214484+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK