Association Between Number of Oocytes Retrieved with Cumulative Live Birth Rate

Objectives To find the correlation between oocyte number and cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) in different age groups. It is a retrospective cohort study conducted from January 2022 to December 2022 at Centre of IVF & Human Reproduction, Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi. Material and Methods Retrospective data were sought for all women with primary and secondary infertility who underwent assisted reproductive technology treatment from January 2022 to December 2022 at Sir Gangaram Hospital, meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Controlled ovarian stimulation was performed using any suitable gonadotropins - urinary or recombinant with agonist or antagonist protocol used at our centre. To calculate the CLBR, the outcome of fresh and frozen embryo transfer was followed till one live birth or followed till a minimum of 1 year from the day of oocyte retrival (i.e., maximum up to 31 December 2023), whichever is earlier. Age-wise stratification of data was done to find out the association between CLBR and oocyte number in different age groups. Group 1 included women aged 35 years or less, and Group 2 included women aged more than 35 years. Results Both the groups in the study were similar in terms of body mass index, stimulation protocol used, and fertilisation protocol used. In group 1, the median oocyte number was 10 per stimulation cycle, whereas in group 2, it was 7. Notably, the oocyte number tends to decrease as age advances. Analysis of the data in both groups, i.e., group 1 (Age ≤35 years) and group 2 (Age >35 years), revealed a significant correlation between oocyte number and no change ( p -value <0.001), indicating a strong positive relationship between the variables. This correlation indicates that as the oocyte number in a single stimulation cycle increases, the CLBR also increases. Conclusion It was observed that as the oocyte number escalates, there is a corresponding increase in the CLBR across all age groups without any evident plateau. These data can serve as a valuable tool for counselling patients regarding their likelihood of achieving a live birth, based on the oocyte number during one stimulation cycle.