Science has its limits in maintaining fertility

As an increasing number of women choose to delay motherhood until a more advanced age, the perception that assisted reproductive technologies will always be successful has also become more popular. Researchers at Yale University have studied this issue, concluding that education about these technologies as well as about actions that can be taken earlier on in a woman’s life is crucial in the modern medical world.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are part of the growing field of research on reproduction and fertility. ARTs are qualified by the manipulation of both the egg and the sperm and include procedures such as gamete intrafallopian tube transfer (a laboratory combination of egg and sperm is placed into the fallopian tube for fertilization) and zygote intrafallopian transfer (a gamete or fertilized egg is implanted into the fallopian tube).

One other specific and favored ART method is in vitro fertilization, which occurs in a lab. The resulting embryo is then implanted in the woman’s uterus through a process called embryo transfer.

According to the American Pregnancy Association, in vitro fertilization has a success rate of 30-35 percent for women aged 35 or under. However, for women over the age of 40, this percentage drops to between six and 10 percent.

The concern is just this: with increasing advances in reproductive assistance, many women are apt to falsely believe these technologies will be effective at any age. However, rates of success strongly show that they are more effective for younger women.

Data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies shows that this issue is of viable concern. The number of in vitro fertilization procedures for women over the age of 40 increased by 41 percent from 2003-2009. This is comparable to only a 9 percent increase for women younger than 35 years of age. For the most part, however, success rates for the older demographic have stayed fixed.

Often the researchers found that women were operating under false assumptions that fertility is always controllable at later stages in life using ART. However, this is not the case. Any successful pregnancy at advanced age carries greater risk of complications such as birth defects or pregnancy loss.

The researchers adamantly state that more discussions about these issues and about women’s reproductive choices should occur between patients and doctors during appointments.

The researchers also emphasize another less recognized option women can take advantage of at an earlier age to ensure their future reproductive success. Women may partake in oocyte freezing, or egg freezing, especially if they wish to have a child who is fully genetically related.

One other ART method is egg donation, where the implanted combination is a donor egg with the father’s sperm. This method typically has the higher pregnancy success rate of 48 percent, according to the American Pregnancy Association, though 15-20 percemt result in miscarriages.