Impact of paternal age on embryology and pregnancy outcomes in the setting of a euploid single-embryo transfer with ejaculated sperm: Retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the impact of paternal age on embryology and pregnancy outcomes in the setting of a euploid single-embryo transfer. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Not applicable. Patient(s) Couples undergoing a first in vitro fertilization cycle with fresh ejaculated sperm who used intracytoplasmic sperm injection for fertilization followed by preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy and single-embryo transfer of a euploid embryo between January 2012 and December 2018. Intervention(s) Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure(s) Embryology outcomes assessed were fertilization rate, blastulation rate, and euploid rate. Pregnancy outcomes assessed included positive human chorionic gonadotropin rate, delivery rate, biochemical loss rate, and clinical loss rate. Results A total of 4,058 patients were assessed. After adjusting for female age, increased paternal age in the setting of fresh ejaculated sperm use was associated with decreased blastulation and decreased euploid rate using 40 years as an age cutoff. Conclusion(s) In this study, advancing paternal age appears to have a detrimental impact on rates of blastocyst formation and euploid status. However, if a euploid embryo is achieved, older paternal age does not appear to affect negatively pregnancy outcomes.