Aggregated News
In vitro fertilization, which thousands of women undergo each year in the hope that it will give them the same odds of having a baby as when they were younger, cannot fully turn back the biological clock, researchers are reporting today.
A study involving more than 6,000 women who underwent the treatment at a large Boston clinic found that while it could give infertile women younger than 35 about the same chance of having a baby as women typically have at that age, it could not counteract the decline in fertility that occurs among those older than 40. The study is the largest of its kind to assess the chances that women of various ages undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) will go home with a baby.
"Even as effective as IVF is, it can't reverse the effects of aging," said Alan S. Penzias of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "We cannot reverse the biological clock."
Infertility clinics have generally reported their success rates in terms of the percentage of patients...
A study involving more than 6,000 women who underwent the treatment at a large Boston clinic found that while it could give infertile women younger than 35 about the same chance of having a baby as women typically have at that age, it could not counteract the decline in fertility that occurs among those older than 40. The study is the largest of its kind to assess the chances that women of various ages undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) will go home with a baby.
"Even as effective as IVF is, it can't reverse the effects of aging," said Alan S. Penzias of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "We cannot reverse the biological clock."
Infertility clinics have generally reported their success rates in terms of the percentage of patients...