IVF: Quality of sperm, not donors' age matters

It is the sperm quality of the donor and not his age that matters in the success of fertility treatment with sperm donation, a study says.

The age of the sperm donor was of little significance in couples having sperm donation for fertility treatment, the findings showed.

"It is sperm quality rather than male age that matters," said Meenakshi Choudhary, from Britain's Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life.

"Our results suggest that, up to the age of 45, there is little effect of male age on the treatment's outcome," Choudhary added.

The findings reaffirm the observation that a couple's fertility appears significantly more dependent on the age of the female partner than on that of the male.

Their conclusions were derived from an analysis of all Britain treatment cycles with sperm donation registered by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) between 1991 and 2012.

From a total of more than 2,30,000 sperm donation cycles, 39,282 were from a first cycle of treatment (with either IVF or donor insemination) and were included in the analysis (a first cycle would avoid any bias from previous attempts).

Results showed a difference according to female age, both in the IVF (in vitro fertilisation) and the donor insemination treatments.

Live birth rate from IVF with donated sperm was around 29 percent in the 18-34 age group, but only around 14 percent in the over-37 age group.

However, within these same two female age bands, no significant differences were found in live birth rate (LBR) relative to the age of sperm donor.