According to a new study, women must be advised to freeze their eggs by the age of 35 and start families earlier, as their chances of giving birth decrease significantly after they turn 38.

Study lead researcher Dr Marta Devesa, presenting her report at the European Society of Human Reproduction’s annual conference in Lisbon, said that apart from suggesting women to freeze their eggs, women above the age of 44 should also be advised not use their own eggs in IVF treatment.

Dr Devesa said, “There is clinically relevant decline from 41/42 – but prognosis is really futile from 44 onwards. Women should be encouraged to have families earlier but if you can't change society then we should encourage them to freeze their eggs by 35”.

She stressed on the point that women of 44 or older should be fully informed about their real chances of a live birth and counseled in favor of oocyte (immature egg) donation.

Researchers for the study analyzed nearly 4200 women aged between 38 and 44 who underwent 5,841 IVF cycles.

Birth rates shown to fall from 24 % for those aged 38 and 39 to 15 % for 40 and 41-year-olds, 6.6 % for women aged 42 and 43 and just 1.3 % for those 44 and older.

Fertility experts said the study showed that women need to be better informed about fertility and had perhaps been misled by good news stories about celebrities.

Professor Adam Balen, the chairman of the British Fertility Society and a consultant in Leeds told the Daily Telegraph that where people hear news about celebrities who may have given birth at an older age, nobody knows the number of celebrities who may not have been able to have babies, because of infertility or possibly even having had fertility treatment that has been unsuccessful.

At the age of 38 or 39 the success rate is 23.6 %, said researchers. According to Devesa, the point at which fertility starts to fall significantly is 38.