Large data findings show the number of children a woman can expect to have based on her age and number of eggs frozen.
Shady Grove Fertility, the largest fertility center in the nation, recently published a study in Fertility and Sterility that reveals the pregnancy rates women who freeze their eggs can expect based on their age when they froze their eggs and the number of eggs frozen coupled with their desired number of children.
The study, “Successful elective and medically indicated oocyte vitrification and warming for autologous in vitro fertilization (IVF), with predicted birth probabilities for fertility preservation according to number of cryopreserved oocytes and age at retrieval,” which was conducted at Shady Grove Fertility, didn’t stop at determining probability of one child but also two and three children by age at the time of egg freezing.
Women 37 and under who freeze 15 to 20 mature eggs have up to a 50 percent chance of having two children, and up to a 20 percent chance of having three children. Women 38 to 40 years old who freeze 25 to 30 mature eggs have up to a 40 percent chance of having two children, and a 15 percent chance of having three children. And women 41 to 42 years old with 25 to 30 mature eggs frozen have up to a 17 percent chance of two children, and a 4 percent chance of three children.
Elective egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is a relatively new option for women and, until 2012, still had an experimental label by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). However with advances in laboratory techniques, ASRM lifted this label making elective egg freezing a highly sought-after option by women—especially women in their 30s who are seeking to ensure they have family building options after their fertility begins to decline.
As women age, both the quantity of eggs, called her ovarian reserve, and the quality of eggs will begin to steadily decline. This natural decline decreases a woman’s ability to conceive while simultaneously increasing the rate of miscarriage and chromosomal abnormalities. By freezing the recommended number of mature eggs based on a woman’s age and ovarian reserve, a woman greatly increases her probability of having at least one healthy child in the future.
“Of the women who have pursued egg freezing, a limited number have returned to use their eggs to date making success rates for egg freezing difficult to find,” says the study’s lead author, Joseph Doyle, M.D., of Shady Grove Fertility’s Rockville, MD, location. “Shady Grove Fertility stands behind our research and recommendations—for women younger than 38, we recommend freezing 15 to 20 mature eggs, giving them roughly a 70 to 80 percent chance of at least one live birth. For women 38 to 40 years old, we recommend freezing 25 to 30 mature eggs, giving them a 65 to 75 percent chance of at least one live birth,” Doyle advises. “We are very happy to have this new information for women who are thinking about freezing their eggs, those deciding how many to freeze, and those who have already frozen their eggs. These answers will guide their decision making and provide a sense of what to expect.”
About Shady Grove Fertility
Shady Grove Fertility is a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence offering patients individualized care, innovative financial options, and pregnancy rates among the highest of all national centers. 2016 commemorates 25 years of Shady Grove Fertility providing medical and service excellence to patients from all 50 states and 35 countries around the world, and celebrates over 40,000 babies born. Today, 35 physicians, supported by a highly specialized team of more than 700 Ph.D. scientists, geneticists, and staff care for patients in 19 full-service offices and six satellite sites throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Shady Grove Fertility physicians actively train residents and reproductive endocrinology fellows and invest in continuous clinical research and education to advance the field of reproductive medicine through numerous academic appointments and partnerships such as Georgetown Medical School, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the University of Maryland, and the National Institutes of Health. More than 1,700 physicians refer their patients to Shady Grove Fertility each year. For more information, call 1-888-761-1967 or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com.
Contact
Sarah Hudson | [email protected] | 301.545.1205
Shady Grove Fertility Marketing Team
