Call to cap IVF at 42

IVF clinics should stop treating women over the age of 42 because success rates are so slim, a top fertility doctor says.

Dutch Professor Hans Evers said their chances of having a baby were just 5 per cent and accused centres of “not being fair” on desperate couples. By the time women reach 44, the success rates of IVF had halved again, he said.

Prof Evers, from Maastricht University, called for a universal IVF age cap of 42. He was speaking at the world congress of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.