Effect of the woman's age on discontinuation of IVF treatment

Noémie Soullier , Jean Bouyer (1) , Jean-Luc Pouly (2) , Juliette Guibert (3) , Elise de La Rochebrochard (4, 1)

1 CESP - Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations
2 Service de Gynécologie [CHU Clermont-Ferrand]
3 Unité de Médecine de la Reproduction
4 INED - Institut national d'études démographiques

Treatment discontinuations are an important issue in IVF programmes. In the French context, financial constraint does not intervene in discontinuation until older ages. This study examined treatment discontinuation in IVF programmes, according to the woman’s age and when there is no financial burden for couples. Medical records were collected for 3037 women who began their IVF programme between 1998 and 2002 in two French IVF units. Up to four attempts were taken into consideration. Cumulative success (delivery) rates were calculated, as well as discontinuation rates. Multiple imputation was applied to estimate a theoretical cumulative success rate as if no woman discontinued treatment before the end of the IVF programme without delivering. Cumulative discontinuation rates at the end of the IVF programme increased with the woman’s age (41% for age<35, 56% for age 35–39, 80% for age ≥40). The benefit in terms of delivery rates of pursuing treatment would be smaller for older women (~10% for age<35, 7% for age 35–39, 4% for age ≥40). Even when treatment is reimbursed, the discontinuation rate is high for older women, suggesting that the strong decrease in success rate with age induces older women to discontinue.

Mots clés: treatment discontinuation; multiple imputation; cumulative rates; in vitro fertilization; Age

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie; Démographie

Noémie Soullier, Jean Bouyer, Jean-Luc Pouly, Juliette Guibert, Elise de La Rochebrochard. Effect of the woman's age on discontinuation of IVF treatment. 2011, 22 (5), pp.496-500. ⟨10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.01.013⟩. ⟨hal-02263259v2⟩