The Nature of Aneuploidy with Increasing Age of the Female Partner: a Review of 15,169 Consecutive Trophectoderm Biopsies Evaluated with Comprehensive Chromosomal Screening

Objective: To determine the relationship between the age of the female partner and the prevalence and nature of human embryonic aneuploidy.

Design: Retrospective.

Setting: Academic.

Patient(s): Trophectoderm biopsies.

Intervention(s): Comprehensive chromosomal screening performed on patients with blastocysts available for biopsy.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Evaluation of the impact of maternal age on the prevalence of aneuploidy, the probability of having no euploid embryos within a cohort, the complexity of aneuploidy as gauged by the number of aneuploid chromosomes, and the trisomy/monosomy ratio.

Result(s): Aneuploidy increased predictably after 26 years of age. A slightly increased prevalence was noted at younger ages, with >40% aneuploidy in women 23 years and under. The no euploid embryo rate was lowest (2% to 6%) in women aged 26 to 37, was 33% at age 42, and was 53% at age 44. Among the biopsies with aneuploidy, 64% involved a single chromosome, 20% two chromosomes, and 16% three chromosomes, with the proportion of more complex aneuploidy increasing with age. Finally, the trisomy/monosomy ratio approximated 1 and increased minimally with age.

Conclusion(s): The lowest risk for embryonic aneuploidy was between ages 26 and 30. Both younger and older age groups had higher rates of aneuploidy and an increased risk for more complex aneuploidies. The overall risk did not measurably change after age 43. Trisomies and monosomies are equally prevalent.