Success of intrauterine insemination in women aged 40-42 years

OBJECTIVE: To determine how advancing female age decreases successful outcomes of intrauterine insemination (IUI) alone or combined with ovarian stimulation. DESIGN: Retrospective review. SETTING: Academic fertility center. PATIENT(S): Infertile men and women. INTERVENTION(S): Intrauterine insemination alone or combined with ovarian stimulation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Pregnancy rates, miscarriage rates, and live birth rates per insemination cycle according to female age. RESULT(S): The 1,117 cycles of IUI resulted in 217 pregnancies, for an overall pregnancy rate for all female ages of 19.4% and a live birth rate of 12.9% per cycle inseminated. The overall live birth rate per insemination declined with advancing maternal age. CONCLUSION(S): Advancing female age decreases successful outcomes with IUI. The live birth rate with IUI for women 40-42 years old (n = 82) was 9.8% per insemination and may demonstrate that IUI is an appropriate treatment for this age group of women.