Dr. Bhagya Shree

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a medical procedure that side-steps the sexual act of conceiving and helps infertile couples, conceive a biological child. It involves the manual process of fertilization by combining an egg and sperm in the laboratory and then implanting the embryo into the female to impregnate her.

A number of factors play an important role in the success of the procedure and some of them are:

1. Lifestyle habits: Certain lifestyle factors can significantly affect your prospects of getting pregnant through this route. Smoking can reduce your prospect of success using this procedure by about 50%. It can cause you to have lesser number of eggs retrieved during the procedure while increasing instances of miscarriages. Likewise, obesity, alcohol use, consumption of excessive caffeine and drugs can adversely affect your chances of getting pregnant using IVF.
2. Embryo status: Embryos that are better developed with good grade stand a higher chance of experiencing success than less developed embryos. More importantly, not every embryo is able to survive the development process.
3. The age at which you get pregnant: A factor that plays a role in influencing your chances of experiencing success in your IVF procedure is the age at which you opt for this procedure. The lower your age, the chances that you may get pregnant and deliver a healthy child using your own eggs witness an increase. On the other hand, if you're aged 41 and above, or your egg reserve is very low donor eggs are the most preferred option as they help to increase your prospects of meeting a success.
4. Cause of Infertility: If your supply of eggs is normal, success rate using IVF is high. Women who suffer from the problem of endometriosis experience lesser chances of getting pregnant than women who have unexplained fertility. 
5. Reproductive history: IVF success rate chances are higher if you've delivered a baby previously using IVF. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a gynaecologist.