How your age, diagnosis, and clinic data impact your IVF success

IVF success isn’t just a matter of luck—it depends on hard data. Age, gamete quality, underlying fertility issues, and clinic-specific metrics are critical factors that determine your chances of having a baby through IVF.

According to a study published in Human Reproduction(1) found that IVF success rates can vary from as high as 60% in younger women to as low as 5% in older age groups. Understanding how your age, diagnosis, and clinic data impavt your IVF success, can help you set realistic expectations and understand where to invest your money.

The impact of age on IVF success

Female age is the single most important parameter for determining IVF success. According to a large-scale study published in Fertility and Sterility(2), the success rates of IVF according to a woman’s age are as follows:

Egg quality and quantity both decline with age. Women over 40 are known to have weaker eggs and hence, higher rates of genetically abnormal embryos (Brown et al., 2019(3)), which are responsible for lower implantation rates and higher risk of miscarriage.

How your diagnosis affects IVF outcomes

Infertility due to certain issues has better response to IVF, while others can be more challenging. For instance:

1. Tubal Factor Infertility: If you have blocked fallopian tubes, your chances of success with IVF are higher because the tubes will be entirely bypassed in the procedure (4).
2. Endometriosis: IVF success rates are found to be lower by 10-20% in women with endometriosis, as inflammation affects egg quality and implantation (5).
3. PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome): Patients of PCOS may high egg retrieval numbers, but the eggs may be immature. Immature eggs in IVF are best dealt with in-vitro maturation (IVM), which improves success rates in such patients.
4. Male factor infertility: Poor sperm is sometimes responsible for repeated miscarriages but the human sperm cycle is only 3 months, and the success rates for male factor infertility can be improved using required therapies.

Understanding how your condition affects IVF success rates can help you and your doctor tailor your treatment plan.

Why clinic-specific success rates matter?

Some of our top IVF doctors in Thailand and Malaysia have documented over 70% success in IVF (verified).

This is attributed to:

1. Understanding of different fertility issues – Dealing with a large number of patients (with over 40 years of experience) allows doctors to gain a deeper understanding of various fertility problems
2. Quality of laboratory and equipment – Human gametes are delicate. Having latest equipment and technology allows the clinicians to ensure the best possible environment for growing embryos
3. Qualified embryologists – Fertilization and embryo growth requires meticulous management of eggs, sperm and the media
4. Careful treatment planning – While some clinics have a more aggressive approach to get higher success rates, others prefer to personalize the treatment to individual patients’ requirements

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (6) reports that clinics with higher live birth rates are the ones that:

• Use advanced embryo grading techniques
• Use preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for better embryo selection
• Enforce strict quality controls in their IVF labs

Before choosing a clinic, discuss their overall success rates for your age group and the possibility of success in your specific situation.

Maximizing your IVF success

While some factors like age and diagnosis are beyond your control, you can still improve your IVF chances by:

• Choosing the right clinic & doctors – With proven success rates and advanced lab technology
• Optimizing your egg and sperm health – Atleast 3-4 months ahead of your IVF treatment
• Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) – Here’s how you can improve IVF success rates with PGT

Conclusion

IVF success isn’t a mystery—it’s driven by data. By following a few simple guidelines, and making the right decisions, you may be able to give yourself the best chances of success in IVF.

Understanding how your age, diagnosis, and clinic factors influence your IVF success can help you make informed decisions. Looking for expert guidance? Find top fertility doctors here and take the next step toward parenthood.