Age and uterine receptiveness: predicting the outcome of oocyte donation cycles

Abstract

CONTEXT: The impact of advancing age on uterine receptiveness has always been a concern of the medical establishment. Oocyte donation (OD) is the perfect model for ascertaining the extent of this relationship, but the literature is somewhat unreliable, mainly due to the limited samples on which the studies are based and insufficient control of important variables such as embryo quality. SETTING: The present work was developed in a private infertility clinic. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: We retrospectively evaluate the results of 3089 OD cycles that ended up in a d 3 embryo transfer. Severe male factor infertility was an exclusion criterion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The impact of patients' age on pregnancy, implantation, and miscarriage rates and obstetric outcome is analyzed, as is the relevance of endometrial thickness, serum estradiol levels, and duration of exogenous estrogen therapy to said rates. RESULTS: Pregnancy and implantation rates are significantly reduced and miscarriage rate is significantly increased from 45 yr of age onward. Concerning obstetric outcome, incidences of hypertension, proteinuria, premature rupture of membranes, second- and third-trimester hemorrhage, and preterm delivery are higher and mean birth weight is lower in this age group. With regard to endometrial preparation, estrogen therapy lasting more than 7 wk is associated with reduced PR and IR (P = 0.01 and P = 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The results of OD cycles and obstetric outcome are significantly worse when recipients are 45 yr of age or older. Concerning endometrial preparation, results are significantly worse when estrogen therapy lasts more than 7 wk.