What Makes a Patient a Good Candidate for IVF

There are patients whom we barely get to meet. They breeze through their treatment, conceive, and are referred back to their OB/GYN for prenatal care. What factors do these patients have in common?

Advanced reproductive treatments, such as IVF, bypass one of the three factors causing infertility: fallopian tubes function. Male infertility is almost always corrected as well. This leaves the quality of one’s eggs as the most significant factor determining the outcome of treatment.

Unsurprisingly, egg quality is closely related to the patient’s age. Female fertility peaks in the mid-twenties and begins to decline by the age of 32 or 33. By the age of 39 to 40, it can become difficult to conceive successfully without experiencing miscarriages.

After the age of 43, it becomes very rare to conceive successfully with one’s own eggs, and most patients will need to consider Donor Egg IVF treatment.

Apart from the female partner’s age, other significant factors include her weight, the length of infertility, whether she has had previous pregnancies, and the regularity of her menstrual periods.

Surprisingly, one’s attitude toward infertility treatment also appears to affect the outcome. Over the years, we have observed that patients who approach their infertility with an open mind and do not excessively stress over the treatment’s outcome tend to have a better chance of success than couples who solely focus on getting pregnant without considering other aspects of their lives.

By the time patients reach advanced reproductive treatments, they have typically gone through months or even years of infertility, along with numerous tests and treatments. It is not easy to maintain a positive outlook throughout this process. Counseling with a Marriage and family therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist may be beneficial. This can be a one-time session or ongoing support throughout your treatment and beyond.

As Dr. Alice Domar states:

“The majority of the research thus far does support the theory that the more distressed one is before an IVF cycle, the less likely one is to conceive.”

— Alice Domar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School