Is Egg Freezing a Good Option for Women Over 35?
The first major American study on preserving fertility for women aged 35-40 who wish to maintain their fertility by freezing their eggs for social reasons has provided an answer to a critical question. The study found that egg freezing is effective in achieving pregnancy later in life, even when women choose to freeze their eggs at older ages, after the age of 35.
The study included 543 women with an average age of 38 at the time of their first egg freezing. The sample resulted in 800 egg freezing cycles, 605 egg thaws, and 436 embryo transfers between 2005 and 2020.
Specifically, the study found that 70% of women who underwent egg freezing at an age younger than 38 and later thawed at least 20 eggs successfully gave birth. Overall, 39% of women between the ages of 27 and 44, with the majority between the ages of 35 and 40 at the time of egg freezing, successfully gave birth to at least one child.
Therefore, the first major American study on fertility preservation confirms the effectiveness of egg freezing, even at older ages, in achieving pregnancy later in life.
According to Panagiotis Psathas MD, PhD – Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Reproductive Medicine Specialist, and principal founder of the Assisted Reproduction Unit at the Institute of Life – IASO, “this study confirms what we observe in our daily practice. Freezing of oocytes is the choice of women not only to postpone maternity for later, but also to increase their chances of success in fertility treatment they may undergo in the future, when they choose to thaw their oocytes.”
The new findings were based on actual results from thawing oocytes that had been frozen for 15 years and were used by women who had delayed conception and were now facing age-related infertility.
The study was published in the scientific journal Fertility and Sterility and also found that a significant number of women who participated had more than one child conceived from cryopreserved oocytes. Overall, the study reports 211 babies born from cryopreserved oocytes.
More effective frozen eggs compared to “fresh” ones?
According to statistics from the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), out of 500 Assisted Reproductive Technology centers in the United States, women over the age of 40 who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) with non-cryopreserved eggs had a success rate of less than 30% for pregnancy and less than 20% for successful pregnancy outcomes.
As it turns out, the freezing and thawing of eggs at a later date has a higher success rate for pregnancy outcomes compared to the use of non-frozen (“fresh”) embryos in Assisted Reproductive Technology treatments.
Average age of new mothers increases by 10 years
According to the US Census Bureau, the number of women in the United States who give birth at an older age has been increasing for three decades, with indications that this trend will continue. Birth rates have decreased for women in their 20s and increased for women in their late 30s and early 40s. The average age of women having their first child has increased from 19 years in 1984 to 30 years in 2021 and is higher in many metropolitan areas.
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