Purpose: To determine which factors predict pregnancy outcome in women
aged 40 years and above who underwent in-vitro fertilization. Method: We
conducted a retrospective case-control study of 631 women aged 40–46 years, who
underwent a total of 904 IVF cycles with autologous gametes. We used stepwise
logistic regression analysis to develop predictors of pregnancy, clinical
pregnancy and live birth outcomes. Data are presented as mean SD,
percentage and confidence intervals. Results: Predictors of live birth
included maternal (95% CI: 0.36–0.78) and paternal (95% CI: 0.62–0.94) age, the
number of follicels 14 mm (95% CI: 1.2–3.2), the number of oocytes collected
(95% CI: 1.3–2.9) the number of metaphase II oocytes (95% CI: 1.3–2.4) and the
number of cleavage stage embryos (95% CI: 1.8–2.6). The predictors of pregnancy
and clinical pregnancy were similar but did not include male age (P
0.05). To further determine the role of male age in live birth a control group of
women younger than 40 years was collected. Male age was not a significant
predictor of live birth among younger women (P = 0.42).
Conclusions: Female age and better ovarian stimulation were
confirmed as predictors of outcomes in older women doing IVF. However, male age
was also noted to be a significant individual predictor of live birth in women
over 40 years of age, but not in younger women doing IVF.