Getting and staying fit can add years to your life and make you feel younger and stronger. Unfortunately, being physically fit cannot reverse the effects of aging on your eggs. Getting pregnant becomes more difficult as you age. Even the most sophisticated assisted reproductive technology procedures cannot turn back the clock.
Expert Insight
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 38-year-old woman, who used assisted reproductive technology treatments to become pregnant, had a pregnancy rate of only 31 percent, compared to younger women whose chance of pregnancy approached 50 percent per attempt. Women become naturally less fertile as they age with a pronounced drop in fertility after the age of 35 years, which is considered advanced maternal age, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Advanced maternal age is a common cause of infertility.
Factors
Two factors contribute to this age-related decline in fertility, according to ASRM. First, a woman's ovarian reserve or the total number of eggs she has declines as she ages, meaning at some point she will stop ovulating and become infertile. Secondly, as women age, more of the eggs they ovulate have chromosomal abnormalities, a condition called aneuploidy. Aneuploid eggs are less likely to become fertilized and, if they are fertilized, they are less likely to implant. If they do implant, depending on the affected chromosomes, pregnancies with aneuploid embryos are more likely to result in miscarriage.
Considerations
Women of advanced maternal age have an increased risk of producing embryos with genetic abnormalities, due to the increased risk of aneuploidy. The presence of a third chromosome 21 called Trisomy 21 is the chromosomal abnormality associated with Down syndrome. The likelihood of having a child with Down syndrome increases with increasing maternal age. According to the March of Dimes, women aged 35 have a 1 in 400 chance of having a Down syndrome child, and this risk quadruples to 1 in 100 at age 40.
Pregnancy Complications
Women who conceive after the age of 35 are more likely to have pregnancy complications, according to the March of Dimes. Older women are at greater risk for developing gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and placenta problems, like placental previa, which increases the risk of Cesarean section. Women of advanced maternal age are more likely to deliver prematurely with a lower birth weight baby and are more likely to have a stillborn baby.
Misconceptions
According to Dr. Hilton Kort, founder of the infertility program Reproductive Biology Associates in Atlanta, Ga., older female patients often ask why they are unable to conceive in their 40s when so many celebrities are announcing pregnancies well into their 40s. The apparent ease with which these older celebrities are getting pregnant leads to the misconception that age is no longer a barrier to fertility and women can use their own eggs to become pregnant at any age. Women of advanced maternal age can have the fertility of a 20-something if they use assisted reproductive technology with donated eggs from a woman in her 20s, according to CDC data.
