Role of Female Age in Determining Causes of Infertility and Predicting Outcome of in Vitro Fertilization

Objective: To look into various causes of infertility according to increasing age, differences in percentage of pregnancy rate after IVF in different age groups and role of various infertility parameters in determining pregnancy rate among these patients Patients and methods: A total of 206 infertile couples were selected and divided into two groups according to female age: Group I (<35 years, n=108) and Group II (≥35 years, n=98). Diagnostic hysterosalpingography or laproscopy was done in order to rule out the tubal blockage and endometriosis. Ovarian dysfunction was excluded on the basis of hormonal analysis. IVF treatment following a long protocol for use of GnRH agonist was given to infertile couple. Analysis was done using SPSS 19 and MedCal software 12. Results: Male causes were frequent in both groups without any significant difference (33%; p=0.882). Tubal factor was significantly raised in older group (33%; p=0.000), whereas ovarian dysfunction was significantly higher in younger patients (33%; p=0.000). Number of embryos transferred and pregnancy rate after IVF were significantly decreased in older couples (p≤0.05). Age of patient and serum FSH levels (p=0.02) have relatively better predictive capability of pregnancy outcome regarding IVF treatment as compared to duration of infertility (p=0.04). Conclusion: Information of infertility factors can help clinician in estimating the chances of pregnancy rate before suggesting ART in old age couples.