Women in their early 40s have doubled their chances of having a baby through IVF treatment in just two years and are enjoying a higher success rate than any other age group, national statistics have revealed.
According to data issued by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, women aged between 40 and 44 had less than 5 per cent chance of delivering a baby in 2004, but by 2006 were twice as likely — with a 9.9 per cent success rate. The rising success within this age bracket is increasing faster than any other and amounts to “a realistic chance” for older women to start families, according to Professor Peter Illingworth, president of the Fertility Society of Australia.
Illingworth has attributed the surprising results to improved techniques within the field of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) and better media for culturing embryos, which he claims are beneficial to this older age group who generally produce eggs of more variable quality.
Women in their 40s have also reaped greater benefits from a developing trend that transfers embryos at the blastocyst stage, five or six days after fertilisation, rather than the two-to-three-day cleavage stage, Professor Illingworth said. This too provides a stronger chance of selecting the best-quality embryos.
However, clinics remain mindful of managing their clients’ expectations as realistically the vast majority of older women continue to go home without a successful pregnancy. Professor Michael Chapman, medical director of private clinic group IVF Australia, warns that older women should ultimately try to become pregnant while their natural fertility is still high and should not use the procedure as an “insurance policy”, despite the dramatic improvements in IVF birth rates.
There are also other factors that may have affected these findings, such as rising numbers of older woman leaving the program sooner after unsuccessful attempts, and a growth in older women joining IVF programs in general.
This said, there remains little doubt that such promising results will be welcomed by the thousands of would-be mothers trying for a baby in the later stages of their fertility cycle.
YOUR SAY: Do these statistics give false hopes to older women? Tell us your thoughts below…
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
