The biochemical pregnancy loss rate remains stable up irrespective of age and differs in pattern from clinical miscarriages

Abstract

Introduction As women age, the increasing rate of aneuploidy lead to an augmentation in the incidence of clinical miscarriages. It was anticipated that biochemical pregnancy rates would also rise with maternal age. However, no study has previously evaluated the effect of maternal age on biochemical pregnancy rates. Material and methods A retrospective cohort study of 2177 subjects who underwent single embryo transfer (SET) as part of a fresh or thawed IVF cycle were recruited from 2008 through 2012, resulting in 952 pregnancies. Data was stratified for age and compared using analysis of variance (continuous data) and chi-squared tests (categorical data). Results The likelihood of a clinical miscarriage increased with age (p < .001). Surprisingly, advancing age had no effect on the biochemical pregnancy loss rate (p = .72) (Age 21–30 y: 10.7%, Age 31–35 y:9.8%, Age 36–40y:11.5%, Age 41–42 y:13.6%). Conclusions Biochemical pregnancy loss rate did not increase as a function of age in women 21 to 42 years of age.