Effect of male age on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in the first frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles of IVF/ICSI treatment

Abstract

Background: The effect of male age on pregnancy outcomes after assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment shown in the previous literature is controversial. In addition, the influence of male age on neonatal outcomes following ART treatment has less been investigated. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of male age on reproductive and neonatal outcomes in couples following ART treatment. Materials and methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in two centers for assisted reproduction from June 2010 to February 2019. A total of 5512 frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles were included according to the criteria. The primary outcome measures were pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Patients were categorized into five groups according to male age (younger than 30, 31–35, 36–40, 41–45, and older than 45), and the group younger than 30 years old was treated as the reference group. Results: The logistic regression analysis showed that clinical pregnancy and live birth were all no statistic difference among the male age-groups compared with the reference group (p values, 0.743, 0.979, 0.948, 0.28; p values, 0.823, 0.342, 0.817, 0.381, respectively). Furthermore, no significant differences were found in the preterm birth rate, child sex, neonatal malformation, birth weight, and gestational age (p > 0.05). The advanced male age was not associated with a higher risk of adverse neonatal outcomes. Discussion and Conclusion: This study showed that there were no effects of male age on pregnancy or neonatal outcomes in infertile couples following their first FET cycles when females were younger than 36 years old.