Semin Reprod Med 2015; 33(06): 429-435
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1567819
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Oocyte Cryopreservation as a Preventive Measure for Age-Related Fertility Loss

Aylin Pelin Cil
1   Istanbul Memorial Hospital, Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Reproductive Genetics Center, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Lale Turkgeldi
2   Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
,
Emre Seli
3   Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
12 November 2015 (online)

Abstract

The increased desire to achieve higher educational, career, or financial goals and not having met a suitable partner are the main reasons why women are postponing parenthood to later stages in life. Not being aware of the age-related decline in fertility and the presence of novel and effective fertility preservation strategies are contributing factors to the increased incidence of childlessness at later stages of life. Oocyte cryopreservation has recently been introduced as a means of increasing the probability of motherhood at advanced ages, should attempts at natural conception fail. It is likely to be the most effective when performed in patients younger than 35 years with a good ovarian reserve. Preconceptional counseling of women by medical professionals, education of young adolescents at schools, organization of public health campaigns, and presentation of fertility health information through the media are strategies suggested to increase public awareness on the age-related decline in fertility and avoid its possible consequences.

 
  • References

  • 1 Rudick B, Opper N, Paulson R, Bendikson K, Chung K. The status of oocyte cryopreservation in the United States. Fertil Steril 2010; 94 (7) 2642-2646
  • 2 Cobo A, Meseguer M, Remohí J, Pellicer A. Use of cryo-banked oocytes in an ovum donation programme: a prospective, randomized, controlled, clinical trial. Hum Reprod 2010; 25 (9) 2239-2246
  • 3 Forman EJ, Li X, Ferry KM, Scott K, Treff NR, Scott Jr RT. Oocyte vitrification does not increase the risk of embryonic aneuploidy or diminish the implantation potential of blastocysts created after intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a novel, paired randomized controlled trial using DNA fingerprinting. Fertil Steril 2012; 98 (3) 644-649
  • 4 Goldman KN, Kramer Y, Hodes-Wertz B, Noyes N, McCaffrey C, Grifo JA. Long-term cryopreservation of human oocytes does not increase embryonic aneuploidy. Fertil Steril 2015; 103 (3) 662-668
  • 5 Nekkebroeck J, Tournaye H, Stoop D. The profile of a pioneer cohort of 225 women with anticipated gamete exhaustion (AGE) opting for oocyte cryopreservation. Hum Reprod 2013; 28: 265 (Suppl 1)
  • 6 Hodes-Wertz B, Druckenmiller S, Smith M, Noyes N. What do reproductive-age women who undergo oocyte cryopreservation think about the process as a means to preserve fertility?. Fertil Steril 2013; 100 (5) 1343-1349
  • 7 te Velde E, Habbema D, Leridon H, Eijkemans M. The effect of postponement of first motherhood on permanent involuntary childlessness and total fertility rate in six European countries since the 1970s. Hum Reprod 2012; 27 (4) 1179-1183
  • 8 Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, Mathews TJ, Osterman MJK. Births: Final Data for 2008. Natl Vital Stat Reports. 2010;59(1): Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statist. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_01.pdf . Accessed November 5, 2015
  • 9 Matthews TJ, Hamilton BE. Delayed childbearing: more women are having their first child later in life. NCHS Data Brief 2009; 21 (21) 1-8
  • 10 Wyndham N, Marin Figueira PG, Patrizio P. A persistent misperception: assisted reproductive technology can reverse the “aged biological clock”. Fertil Steril 2012; 97 (5) 1044-1047
  • 11 SART. Assisted reproductive technology success rates. National summary and fertility clinic reports. Available at: http//www.cdc.gov/art/ARTReports.htm . Accessed August 8, 2015
  • 12 Baldwin K, Culley L, Hudson N, Mitchell H, Lavery S. Oocyte cryopreservation for social reasons: demographic profile and disposal intentions of UK users. Reprod Biomed Online 2015; 31 (2) 239-245
  • 13 Martin LJ. Anticipating infertility: egg freezing, genetic preservation, and risk. Gend Soc 2010; 24 (4) 526-545
  • 14 Stoop D, Nekkebroeck J, Devroey P. A survey on the intentions and attitudes towards oocyte cryopreservation for non-medical reasons among women of reproductive age. Hum Reprod 2011; 26 (3) 655-661
  • 15 Tan SQ, Tan AWK, Lau MSK, Tan HH, Nadarajah S. Social oocyte freezing: a survey among Singaporean female medical students. J Obstet Gynaecol Res 2014; 40 (5) 1345-1352
  • 16 Vallejo V, Lee JA, Schuman L , et al. Social and psychological assessment of women undergoing elective oocyte cryopreservation: a 7-year analysis. Open J Obstet Gynaecol 2013; 3 (1) 1-7
  • 17 Cooke A, Mills TA, Lavender T. ‘Informed and uninformed decision making’—women's reasoning, experiences and perceptions with regard to advanced maternal age and delayed childbearing: a meta-synthesis. Int J Nurs Stud 2010; 47 (10) 1317-1329
  • 18 Stoop D, van der Veen F, Deneyer M, Nekkebroeck J, Tournaye H. Oocyte banking for anticipated gamete exhaustion (AGE) is a preventive intervention, neither social nor nonmedical. Reprod Biomed Online 2014; 28 (5) 548-551
  • 19 Meller W, Burns LH, Crow S, Grambsch P. Major depression in unexplained infertility. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol 2002; 23 (1) 27-30
  • 20 Agerbo E, Mortensen PB, Munk-Olsen T. Childlessness, parental mortality and psychiatric illness: a natural experiment based on in vitro fertility treatment and adoption. J Epidemiol Community Health 2013; 67 (4) 374-376
  • 21 Eurostat. Population structure and ageing. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php . Accessed July 25, 2015
  • 22 Ziebe S, Devroey P ; State of ART 2007 Workshop Group. Assisted reproductive technologies are an integrated part of national strategies addressing demographic and reproductive challenges. Hum Reprod Update 2008; 14 (6) 583-592
  • 23 Hirshfeld-Cytron J, Grobman WA, Milad MP. Fertility preservation for social indications: a cost-based decision analysis. Fertil Steril 2012; 97 (3) 665-670
  • 24 van Loendersloot LL, Moolenaar LM, Mol BWJ, Repping S, van der Veen F, Goddijn M. Expanding reproductive lifespan: a cost-effectiveness study on oocyte freezing. Hum Reprod 2011; 26 (11) 3054-3060
  • 25 Mertes H, Pennings G. Elective oocyte cryopreservation: who should pay?. Hum Reprod 2012; 27 (1) 9-13
  • 26 von Wolff M, Germeyer A, Nawroth F ; M von W. Fertility preservation for non-medical reasons: controversial, but increasingly common. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112 (3) 27-32
  • 27 Shkedi-Rafid S, Hashiloni-Dolev Y. Egg freezing for age-related fertility decline: preventive medicine or a further medicalization of reproduction? Analyzing the new Israeli policy. Fertil Steril 2011; 96 (2) 291-294
  • 28 United Nations Report of the International Conference on Population and Development; 1995
  • 29 Hoffman MC, Jeffers S, Carter J, Duthely L, Cotter A, González-Quintero VH. Pregnancy at or beyond age 40 years is associated with an increased risk of fetal death and other adverse outcomes. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2007; 196 (5) e11-e13
  • 30 Cleary-Goldman J, Malone FD, Vidaver J , et al; FASTER Consortium. Impact of maternal age on obstetric outcome. Obstet Gynecol 2005; 105 (5, Pt 1) 983-990
  • 31 Beral V, Bull D, Doll R, Peto R, Reeves G ; Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Familial breast cancer: collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 52 epidemiological studies including 58,209 women with breast cancer and 101,986 women without the disease. Lancet 2001; 358 (9291) 1389-1399
  • 32 Mac Dougall K, Beyene Y, Nachtigall RD. ‘Inconvenient biology:’ advantages and disadvantages of first-time parenting after age 40 using in vitro fertilization. Hum Reprod 2012; 27 (4) 1058-1065
  • 33 Cil AP, Bang H, Oktay K. Age-specific probability of live birth with oocyte cryopreservation: an individual patient data meta-analysis. Fertil Steril 2013; 100 (2) 492-9.e3
  • 34 Cil AP, Seli E. Current trends and progress in clinical applications of oocyte cryopreservation. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol 2013; 25 (3) 247-254
  • 35 Oktay K, Cil AP, Bang H. Efficiency of oocyte cryopreservation: a meta-analysis. Fertil Steril 2006; 86 (1) 70-80
  • 36 Dondorp W, de Wert G, Pennings G , et al; ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law. Oocyte cryopreservation for age-related fertility loss. Hum Reprod 2012; 27 (5) 1231-1237
  • 37 Chung K, Paulson R . Fertility preserving options for women of advancing age, Barbieri RL, ed. UpToDate; 2015
  • 38 Garcia-Velasco JA, Domingo J, Cobo A, Martínez M, Carmona L, Pellicer A. Five years' experience using oocyte vitrification to preserve fertility for medical and nonmedical indications. Fertil Steril 2013; 99 (7) 1994-1999
  • 39 Knopman JM, Noyes N, Grifo JA. Cryopreserved oocytes can serve as the treatment for secondary infertility: a novel model for egg donation. Fertil Steril 2010; 93 (7) 2413.e7-2413.e9
  • 40 Wunder D. Social freezing in Switzerland and worldwide—a blessing for women today?. Swiss Med Wkly 2013; 143 (February) w13746
  • 41 Spandorfer SD, Bendikson K, Dragisic K, Schattman G, Davis OK, Rosenwaks Z. Outcome of in vitro fertilization in women 45 years and older who use autologous oocytes. Fertil Steril 2007; 87 (1) 74-76
  • 42 Steiner AZ, Paulson RJ. Motherhood after age 50: an evaluation of parenting stress and physical functioning. Fertil Steril 2007; 87 (6) 1327-1332
  • 43 Sauer MV, Paulson RJ, Lobo RA. Pregnancy in women 50 or more years of age: outcomes of 22 consecutively established pregnancies from oocyte donation. Fertil Steril 1995; 64 (1) 111-115
  • 44 Bretherick KL, Fairbrother N, Avila L, Harbord SHA, Robinson WP. Fertility and aging: do reproductive-aged Canadian women know what they need to know?. Fertil Steril 2010; 93 (7) 2162-2168
  • 45 Maheshwari A, Porter M, Shetty A, Bhattacharya S. Women's awareness and perceptions of delay in childbearing. Fertil Steril 2008; 90 (4) 1036-1042
  • 46 Peterson BD, Pirritano M, Tucker L, Lampic C. Fertility awareness and parenting attitudes among American male and female undergraduate university students. Hum Reprod 2012; 27 (5) 1375-1382
  • 47 Everywoman J. Cassandra's prophecy: why we need to tell the women of the future about age-related fertility decline and ‘delayed’ childbearing. Reprod Biomed Online 2013; 27 (1) 4-10
  • 48 Boivin J, Bunting L, Gameiro S. Cassandra's prophecy: a psychological perspective. Why we need to do more than just tell women. Reprod Biomed Online 2013; 27 (1) 11-14
  • 49 Hvidman HW, Petersen KB, Larsen EC, Macklon KT, Pinborg A, Nyboe Andersen A. Individual fertility assessment and pro-fertility counselling; should this be offered to women and men of reproductive age?. Hum Reprod 2015; 30 (1) 9-15