Very advanced maternal age - chance of pregnancy after ICSI

Jakub Wyroba; Katarzyna Kostarczyk; Joanna Kochan; Alicja Lachowska

doi:10.48269/MandPH-AFMKU-25-1-004

Published: 2025-09-30

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2025)

Very advanced maternal age - chance of pregnancy after ICSI

Jakub Wyroba

, Katarzyna Kostarczyk

, Joanna Kochan

, Alicja Lachowska

Section: original research papers

https://doi.org/10.48269/MandPH-AFMKU-25-1-004

Abstract

Background:
Postponing procreation becomes an increasing problem in developed countries. Maternal aging contributes to intensive development of assisted reproduction techniques (ART). The aim of the study was to analyze the results of in vitro fertilization in women of very advanced maternal age (AMA, ≥42Y) using autologous oocytes (AO) or donor oocytes (DO) compared to women ≤35Y.

Material and methods:
This was a retrospective study of AMA women who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using AO or DO. The control group consisted of young patients with age ≤35Y.

Results:
In group of AMA patients, the AMH level was significantly lower (0.56 ng/ml) than in young patients (3.6 ng/ml), which corresponded to obtaining a significantly lower number of oocytes (1.6±0.4 vs 12±4 oocytes/cycle), (p < 0.001). In older patients with AO only 0.4±0.1 blastocysts/cycle were obtained compared to 1.9±0.7 when DO were used and 3.8±1.1 from young women. Euploidy rate of blastocysts obtained after fertilization of AO of AMA patients was 26% in compare to 57% in a group of young women and 54% in the group of older patients with DO. The implantation rate was significantly lower in the group of older patients with AO (28%) compared to the other groups (50%, 59%), (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:
AMA patients must be aware that IVF procedure does not guarantee pregnancy and the birth of a healthy child and they should be offered pre-implantation PGT-A diagnostics due to the high risk of chromosomal defects. These patients should also be informed about the much higher effectiveness of IVF using DO.

Keywords:

advanced maternal age , IVF , ART , reproductive aging , oocyte donation

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Wyroba, Jakub, et al. “Very Advanced Maternal Age - Chance of Pregnancy After ICSI”. Medicine and Public Health, vol. 3, no. 1, Sept. 2025, pp. 1–8, doi:10.48269/MandPH-AFMKU-25-1-004.

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Jakub Wyroba

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6221-8089

Affiliation:

Fertility Disorders Clinic, Medical College, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, Poland, Poland

Katarzyna Kostarczyk

https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8606-9327

Affiliation:

Department of Animal Reproduction, Anatomy and Genomics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland, Poland

Joanna Kochan

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4296-6471

Affiliation:

Department of Animal Reproduction, Anatomy and Genomics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland, Poland

Alicja Lachowska

ala.lachowska@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4461-4692

Affiliation:

Malopolski Institute of Fertility Diagnostics and Treatment – KrakOvi, Krakow, Poland, Poland

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2025)
Published: 2025-10-08

eISSN: 2956-9443

Publisher

AFM Publishing House of the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University

Licence CC

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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