Research shows that women trying to have a baby are 18 times less likely to succeed at the age of 44 as when they are just six years younger. Photo / Thinkstock
Research shows that women trying to have a baby are 18 times less likely to succeed at the age of 44 as when they are just six years younger. Photo / Thinkstock
Women who want a family should conceive or freeze their eggs by 35, doctors have said, after a major study showed fertility falling off a "cliff edge" in subsequent years.
The research shows that women trying to have a baby are 18 times less likely to succeed at the ageof 44 as when they are just six years younger.
Senior doctors said findings from the study - the largest and most detailed of its kind - showed the need for women who want children to stop delaying motherhood, or putting careers first.
They said there was a need for "more realistic expectations" among many women, who should either start trying for a family earlier or freeze their eggs.
IVF experts said many women had little idea how low their conception chances were.
Some were given false hope by celebrity mothers having babies in their 40s, with some not admitting they had used donor eggs, they suggested.
The study, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction's annual conference in Lisbon, shows that at the age of 38 around 24 per cent of women having fertility treatment went on to have a baby.
By the age of 44 the figure was just 1.3 per cent, with a significant decline in live birth rates seen between the ages of 41 and 42.
