As a result, ART using donor eggs is much more common among older women than among younger women. The diagram from the CDC at left shows the percentage of ART cycles using donor eggs in 1997 according to the woman's age. The percentage of cycles carried out with donor eggs then increased sharply. The diagram compares success rates for ART using donor eggs with those for ART using a woman's own eggs among women of different ages. The likelihood of a fertilized egg implanting is related to the age of the woman who produced the egg.
Egg donors are typically in their twenties or early thirties.
Thus, the live birth per transfer rate for cycles using embryos from donor eggs varies only slightly across all age groups. As women get older, the likelihood of a successful response to ovarian stimulation and progression to egg retrieval decreases. As women get older, cycles that have progressed to egg retrieval are slightly less likely to reach transfer. Thus, as women get older, the overall likelihood of cycles progressing from start to transfer decreases. The percentage of cycles that progress from transfer to pregnancy also decreases as women get older.