Recipient's age does not adversely affect pregnancy outcome after oocyte donation

Our purpose was to examine the effect of the recipient's age on pregnancy and miscarriage rates after oocyte donation.

A retrospective analysis of 307 consecutively performed donor oocyte cycles was undertaken. Recipients were divided into two groups: younger group < or = 42 years old (165 cycles) versus older group > 42 years old (145 cycles). Pregnancy outcomes between groups were compared. Confounding variables such as donor and cycle characteristics, recipient characteristics, and male parameters were also examined.

Both groups had the same incidence (6%) of failed fertilization cycles. At least one embryo was transferred in the remaining 286 cycles. Ongoing or delivered pregnancy rates per embryo transfer were similar for younger and older groups (30.2% vs 30.6%). Differences in miscarriage rates were not statistically significant (9.8% vs 16.3%). There were no differences in the cycle parameters related to donor age, number of oocytes aspirated, number of oocytes fertilized, and number of embryos transferred. Donor sperm was more frequently utilized in the older group (19 vs 4 cycles, p = 0.0002). In the remaining cycles male partners of older recipients were significantly older (37.9 +/- 0.5 years vs 43.9 +/- 0.6 years, p < 0.0001), but there were no differences in semen parameters or fertilization rates. Older recipients were more likely to be parous but also to have experienced a previous miscarriage.

Recipient age does not adversely affect cycle outcome with donor oocytes. This implies that aging of the uterus is not of clinical significance to patients electing this method of infertility treatment.