The Influence of Women Age and Successfulness of Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) Cycles.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between success and the benefit of repeated intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles among women of different age groups.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective analysis of 466 IUI cycles from 221 patients treated in afertility center of a university hospital between 2005 and 2013. The female age was stratified as younger than 35 years, 35 to 40 years, and older than 40 years old. The outcomes were the biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate, live birth rate, and miscarriage rate. Kaplan-Meier analysis of the suitability cycle in each age group was also performed.

RESULTS: The average age ofpatients was 35.2±4.6 years (range 21 to 49 years). The overall biochemical pregnancy rate was 18.6%. The biochemical pregnancy rate significantly decreased with advancing female age groups (27.6%, 12.8%, and 7.1% infemale age group younger than 35 years, 35 to 40 years, and older than 40 years respectively, p = 0.008). The other pregnancy outcomes were not different among female age groups. In all age groups, the increment of the cumulative biochemical pregnancy rate was observed up to four cycles.

CONCLUSION: The biochemical pregnancy rate of IUI cycle decreased with advancingfemale age; however clinical pregnancy rate, live birth rate, and miscarriage rate were not different among female age groups. We recommend performing up to four insemination cycles before proceeding to IVF/ICSI cycle.