How old is considered a woman of advanced age for the purpose of childbirth requirements? For now, it is more accepted to define advanced childbearing according to advanced maternal age, i.e. women who give birth > 35 years of age, above which the mother has an increased risk of health and of having a malformed child. Does fertility decline in women of advanced age? The answer is yes, and studies have proven that a woman’s age can be an independent factor that affects the final pregnancy outcome. Female fertility declines with age after the age of thirty, especially after the age of 35. The main known reasons for this are the decrease in ovarian reserve function with age, the decrease in the number of oocytes and the increase in the aneuploidy rate. In addition, pelvic inflammatory disease, the increased incidence of reproductive tract tumors and the decreased tolerance of the endometrium are also important reasons for the decrease in fertility. So can women of advanced age still undergo IVF? It is important to note that a woman’s age is not the only determinant of her fertility. The assessment of fertility includes many components, such as the assessment of ovarian reserve function, in addition to uterine, tubal and systemic diseases. Therefore, if the fertility assessment of an older woman can still meet the needs of IVF, she can also try IVF. Is there an age limit for IVF for older women? Currently, we do not recommend IVF for women older than 45 years old. This is because the quality of eggs decreases with age, and after the age of 45, many women are in perimenopause and have very few eggs available in their ovaries. Also, after fertilization, the probability of abnormal chromosomal divisions increases greatly, and accordingly, the production of chromosomally abnormal embryos increases. With the decrease in both quantity and quality, the embryo implantation rate is greatly reduced, with a clinical pregnancy rate of <5%, close to 0. Even if pregnancy occurs, the risk of embryonic abortion is greatly increased. Even in the unlikely event that the embryo develops normally, the risk of pregnancy complications and perinatal complications is greatly increased. Therefore, with the development of medical technology, IVF is now possible for some women of advanced age. However, as age increases, the success rate of IVF decreases rapidly and the risk of complications during pregnancy increases dramatically. Once a woman is older than 45 years old, the likelihood of success with IVF is extremely slim. Therefore, whether or not an older woman can still undergo IVF needs to be determined by her age and the specifics of her fertility, and cannot be generalized.