Nearly half (41%) of women who had their eggs frozen at the UZ Brussels hospital had a baby after the age of 40 when they used the eggs in fertility treatment, according to figures from UZ Brussel's reproductive medicine centre (Brussels IVF).
Despite an increasing number of women opting to have their eggs frozen, there was a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of subsequent IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatment. This is the first time that success rates after using frozen cells have been reported in Belgium.
"The study shows that a significant group of women do not yet wish to make immediate use of the frozen eggs when resorting to Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR)," said Michel De Vos, fertility physician and head of department at Brussels IVF, in a press release.
"Often other treatment options are tried first before thawing the eggs, or the eggs are only used for a second child," De Vos said. "Additionally, the majority of women who had their eggs frozen have not yet contacted the fertility centre."
106 healthy babies
The study included 843 women who had their eggs frozen for non-medical reasons at Brussels IVF between 2009 and 2019. At the time, their average age was 36, and the majority did not have a partner.
By May 2022, 231 (27%) of these women had returned to the centre for fertility treatment. By then, their average age was 40 years, and 57% had a partner. The women without a partner relied on donor sperm.
A total of 110 of the 231 women who returned (48%) used their own frozen eggs as part of their fertility treatment – on average, 83% of eggs survived the thawing process.
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For many, however, using their frozen eggs remains a last resort and not all the women who returned used them: 50 women (22%) resorted to intrauterine insemination (where sperm cells are inserted directly into the uterus) and 71 (31%) opted for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) with fresh eggs, without using the frozen ones.
In total, 106 women gave birth to a healthy baby – corresponding to 46% of the total group of 231 women who returned with a desire to have children. Of the women who underwent treatment with frozen eggs, 41% had a baby, at an average age of 42 years old.
