OBJECTIVE: Age affects both oocyte quality and quantity. Young women are generally thought to have “good quality” eggs and to have a good response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. However there is a unique group of young women who respond poorly to stimulation in comparison to their peers. Do these women have similar IVF outcomes or are there differences in the quality of their oocytes and not just the quantity? Our goal was to examine young women under the age of 35 who are poor responders to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in an effort to define their IVF outcomes in comparison to young women who respond normally.DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.MATERIALS AND METHODS: All fresh, non-donor IVF cycles from 2000 through 2006 in women under the age of 35 were included in the cohort. Cycles were divided into 3 groups based on number of eggs retrieved as follows: poor responders 1-5 eggs, normal responders 6-20 eggs and high responders >20 eggs. Baseline characteristics and cycle outcomes of the 3 groups were compared using statistical analysis with p<0.05 considered significant.Table 1Cycle outcomes for 6,137 IVF cycles in patients under the age of 35 by responder categoryResponder categoryHighNormalPoorN5294612996Avg # embryos transferred2.02.21.8Pregnancy Rate44.8%44.5%31.5%Miscarriage Rate6.9%4.9%3.7%Live Birth Rate36.1%35.6%24.2% Open table in a new tab CONCLUSIONS: A lower pregnancy and live birth rate exists in young poor responders compared to normal or high responders and remains when stratifying by the number of embryos transferred. The results of this study suggest that even in young women differences exist in both the quantity and quality of oocytes. OBJECTIVE: Age affects both oocyte quality and quantity. Young women are generally thought to have “good quality” eggs and to have a good response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. However there is a unique group of young women who respond poorly to stimulation in comparison to their peers. Do these women have similar IVF outcomes or are there differences in the quality of their oocytes and not just the quantity? Our goal was to examine young women under the age of 35 who are poor responders to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in an effort to define their IVF outcomes in comparison to young women who respond normally. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All fresh, non-donor IVF cycles from 2000 through 2006 in women under the age of 35 were included in the cohort. Cycles were divided into 3 groups based on number of eggs retrieved as follows: poor responders 1-5 eggs, normal responders 6-20 eggs and high responders >20 eggs. Baseline characteristics and cycle outcomes of the 3 groups were compared using statistical analysis with p<0.05 considered significant. CONCLUSIONS: A lower pregnancy and live birth rate exists in young poor responders compared to normal or high responders and remains when stratifying by the number of embryos transferred. The results of this study suggest that even in young women differences exist in both the quantity and quality of oocytes.