Do very young oocyte donors negatively impact live birth rates in their recipients?

Abstract

To understand whether there was an association between very young oocyte donors and adverse outcomes, this was a single centre retrospective study (Lister Fertility Clinic, London) examining data collected between 1st January 2010 and 31st December 2021. A total of 1,182 oocyte donors were included in the final analysis. Data was categorised by donor age in years; ≤22, 23-25, 26-28, 29-31, 32-34. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. Donors aged ≤22 years showed increased live birth rates (LBR) in fresh In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) cycles when compared to donors aged 26-28 (p < 0.0136), 29-31 (p < 0.0044), and 32-34 (p < 0.0003) years, respectively. There was also an increased positive pregnancy rate in fresh IVF cycles for donor oocytes ≤22 years when compared to all other groups. The LBR and positive pregnancy rates decreased with increasing oocyte age with fresh IVF cycles. There was no significant difference in the LBR with frozen IVF cycles compared to fresh IVF cycles. Our data showed that very young oocyte donors are in fact associated with improved IVF outcomes, especially in fresh IVF cycles.