A man’s age can affect IVF success

NEW RESEARCH suggests that like women, a man’s age also has an effect on the success of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatment, despite the appearance of male fertility as neverending.

A woman’s age is often thought to be the dominant factor in the success of both natural and assisted conception. Unlike women, men do not go through menopause, or a predictable and detectable decline in fertility.

However, a few previous studies have found that a man’s age can affect natural conception, particularly in the genetic health of sperm cells.

For the new research, carried out by Dr Laura Dodge from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and the Boston Harvard Medical School in the US, some 19,000 IVF cycles performed in 7,753 couples at a Boston IVF clinic were analysed.

The female partners in these cycles were placed into four different age groups: under 30 years old, 30-35, 35-40, and 40-42. Men were also placed into these same groups, with an additional group of 42 and over.

The team found that as expected, the cumulative live birth rate – measured from up to six cycles of treatment – was lowest in couples where the female partner was in the 40-42 age group. In this group, the age of the male partner had no impact, showing that the age of the woman was indeed more dominant.

However, when looking at the other female age groups, the team found that the cumulative incidence of live birth was significantly affected by male partner age, with the live birth rate declining as the man grew older.

Dodge also noted that a man’s age appears to play a role in natural conception, with increasing male age associated with decreased incidence of pregnancy, time to pregnancy, and risk of miscarriage.

Although it is unsure why age has this effect, some possible explanations include increased DNA damage in sperm, and epigenetic alterations in sperm that affect fertilisation, implantation, or embryo development.

“However,” Dodge also added that “both the results of this study and prior work show that female age has a larger effect on fertility than male age.” – AFP-Relaxnews