The idea of becoming a parent at 50 may no longer be just a distant dream. With in vitro fertilization (IVF) advancing the field of fertility care, more and more people and couples are looking into having children later in life but is IVF at or near 50 actually safe? What are the realistic prospects of success? And what does it portend for maternal health?

IVF, or in vitro fertilization, is a multi-step medical process consisting of stimulating the ovaries to release eggs, extracting those eggs, fertilizing them with sperm in the laboratory, and then placing the resultant embryo into the uterus.

We interviewed Fertility specialist, Dr. Nishi Singh Head of Prime IVF exclusively to shed light on this complex and intimate process.

"IVF is one of the most potent weapons in our fertility toolkit," says Dr. Singh. "But its potency relies a lot on the patient's age and health, particularly egg quality."

Although IVF has given millions worldwide hope, age is still the key to its success. A woman aged 20 or 30 will be successful, on average, in about 50% of IVF cycles, but this will reduce dramatically with age—to less than 10% in women aged over 40 using their own eggs.

Is IVF After 50 Possible?

"Yes, IVF at age 50 and beyond is medically feasible," affirms Dr. Singh. "But it demands subtle insight, careful planning, and medical protection to secure the safety of mother and baby."

For the woman in her late 40s or early 50s, the reduction both in quantity and quality of eggs renders natural pregnancy a rarity. Donor eggs now come to her rescue. According to Dr. Singh, "using donor eggs from younger women greatly raises the chances of conception even after menopause."

It should be noted that the uterus does not age as quickly as the ovaries. With good hormone therapy to condition the lining of the uterus, most postmenopausal women can support a pregnancy properly.

Success Rates with IVF Over 50

Dr. Singh says, "Success rates in over 50 women using donor eggs can be from 40% to 55% per cycle, depending on the clinic, embryo quality, and patient health.

This is encouraging, particularly compared to sub-10% success rates for women above 45 with the use of their own eggs. Yet while statistics hold promise, they also emphasize the need for selecting a skilled fertility clinic and personalized treatment.

Health Risks and Medical Considerations of IVF after 50

While IVF at 50 is possible, it is not without risk. "We carefully screen patients prior to moving forward," explains Dr. Singh. Regular complications include hypertension, gestational diabetes, preterm labor, and an increased risk of cesarean section.

"Patients need to be emotionally, physically, and financially ready," she warns. "Emotional readiness is just as important as biological readiness, and full counseling is an absolute component of the process."

In addition to physical well-being, parents above 50 years should be made aware of parenting responsibilities in old age, such as long-term care and energy.

What are the Ethical and Emotional Aspects Of IVF after 50?

IVF at a late age has also brought arguments over ethics and long-term consequences. While it provides biological parenthood to those women who missed the chance early in life because of careers, late marriages, or personal choices, it also raises questions about parenting at an old age.

Dr. Singh acknowledges the emotional complexities but emphasizes choice. “Everyone deserves the chance to build a family—what matters most is that they are fully informed and supported medically and emotionally.”

Expert-Recommended Tips to Improve IVF Success at Any Age

Whether you’re in your 30s or 50s, several factors can enhance your chances with IVF:

Adopt a Fertility-Boosting Lifestyle: Eat a balanced diet, exercise daily, and enjoy a healthy BMI. Reduce alcohol intake, do not smoke, and avoid recreational drugs.

Take Key Supplements: "Folic acid, CoQ10, and vitamin D can improve egg quality and overall fertility," says Dr. Singh.

Stress Management Is Key: Elevated cortisol levels can affect reproductive hormones. Practice mindfulness, yoga, or acupuncture.

Sleep Well: Aim for at least 7–8 hours of restful sleep to support hormonal balance.

Address Underlying Health Conditions: Conditions such as PCOS, thyroid issues, and endometriosis can interfere with fertility outcomes if left unmanaged.

Start Early, If Possible: The earlier IVF is initiated—especially for women over 35—the better the chances.

Work With Specialists: Choose a clinic that tailors protocols based on your individual profile.

IVF at 50 Is an Individual but a Viable Option

Thanks to advances in reproductive medicine and growing familiarity with late-age parenthood, IVF over 50 isn't merely viable—it's increasingly common. Yet it's not something to be taken lightly.

As Dr. Singh points out, "Motherhood at this age demands medical preparedness, mental toughness, and a robust support system. But with the right attitude, we've seen numerous women in their 50s achieve their dream of parenthood."

So, if you are 50 and curious whether IVF is the solution for you, just hold your horses—science is with you, but wise decision-making and professional advice are your best friends.

Dr. Nishi Singh is a Fertility specialist and Head at Prime IVF in India

With the modern medicine, timely access to specialized care often makes the difference between life and death. For patients with heart failure, this reality has never been more true but a troubling new study indicates that roughly 40% of individuals with heart failure do not see a cardiologist even once per year despite strong evidence that even one yearly visit would greatly enhance survival.

Published in the European Heart Journal and delivered at the Heart Failure Congress 2025, the research led by Dr. Guillaume Baudry and Professor Nicolas Girerd from the Clinical Investigation Centre at Nancy University Hospital in France indicates that annual cardiology follow-ups are linked to a 24% lower risk of mortality. The results give rise to immediate questions regarding discrepancies in access to specialist care and how health systems everywhere can improve support for heart failure patients.

Heart failure ensues when the heart becomes incapable of circulating blood, usually a result of ailments like coronary artery disease, hypertension, or past heart attacks. Although irreversible in a majority of instances, heart failure can be treated for many decades with the proper medications, lifestyle modifications, and follow-up visits. Cardiologists have the key role in providing this expert care.

While the previous research took its data from a handful of middle-class medical centers, the new study, based on medical records of 655,919 heart failure patients in France, discovered that almost two in five patients saw no cardiologist whatsoever within a 12-month window. And such minimal contact has dire consequences. In accordance with the scientists, for every 11–16 patients who did visit a cardiologist on at least an annual basis, one life could be saved.

"Ever since we understood the importance of specialist care for cancer, we've also known that heart failure needs specialist attention," said Dr. Baudry. "Our study offers proof that even clinically stable patients can gain benefit from regular care by a cardiologist."

How Often Should You Visit a Cardiologist?

To maximize care delivery, the research stratified patients according to two straightforward but strongly predictive factors: recent hospitalization for heart failure and diuretic use (a common set of medications used to counteract fluid accumulation). These factors were used to determine which patients required more frequent follow-ups with specialists.

Patients with no recent hospitalization and no diuretic use were improved by at least one visit a year, cutting their risk of death from 13% to 6.7%.

Those who had not been recently hospitalized but were on diuretics required two to three visits yearly, reducing their risk from 21.3% to 11.9%.

Those hospitalized in the past five years (but not the recent year) also needed two to three visits to reduce risk from 24.8% to 12.9%.

The most at-risk group—those hospitalized in the previous year—benefited most from quarterly visits, lowering death rates from 34.3% to 18.2%.

Importantly, these recommendations are based on existing resource constraints within national healthcare systems, making them practical and scalable globally.

The study also identified significant differences in access to seeing a cardiologist. Women, older patients, and patients with other chronic conditions like diabetes or pulmonary disease were less likely to be referred for cardiology treatment. Indeed, 33.8% of women did not visit a cardiologist in a year, versus 27.9% of men. Women were also less likely to take drugs like RAS inhibitors, which are routine in heart failure treatment.

In spite of these differences, women actually fared better overall in mortality and hospitalization rates—an intriguing and not yet fully explained result that merits further study.

Professor Nicolas Girerd stressed the necessity of systematic reform: "Referral to a cardiologist should be as routine in heart failure as it is in cancer care. Our study demonstrates that two simple markers recent hospitalization and treatment with diuretics—can inform these decisions without the need for expensive diagnostic machinery."

This big, population-based French study is a wake-up call, not only for European healthcare, but for health systems in general. In most nations, primary care doctors are overworked, and patients with complicated diseases such as heart failure might not get the specialist care they require.

In a supporting editorial, Professor Lars Lund of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm cautioned, "What good is 50 years of discovery and innovation in heart failure treatment if patients aren't accessing that care?" He further said that systemic initiatives are urgently required to include cardiology follow-up in the standard care pathways.

Although this was an observational study and cannot establish direct causality, the scale and robustness of the findings are a powerful argument for change. The researchers plan now to conduct an interventional clinical trial to examine the effect of organized cardiologist follow-up on patient outcomes. They also want to investigate the problem in countries with varying models of healthcare in order to determine world applicability.

Hidden Cost of Skipping Cardiology Visits

Heart failure doesn’t always arrive with drama — no sudden collapse, no flashing lights. Instead, it often unfolds quietly, with fatigue, shortness of breath, or swelling easily dismissed as aging or stress. But beneath that silence lies a ticking time bomb. The latest study from France highlights a shocking truth: failing to see a cardiologist even once a year could be a matter of life and death. This isn't about access to the latest technology or expensive tests, it's about presence.

The absence of a specialist in a patient’s journey with heart failure can mean the absence of life-saving medication adjustments, early warning signs going unnoticed, and critical therapy not being initiated. The data is sobering — skipping that one visit could mean doubling the risk of death.

Signs That Could Save Lives

One of the most powerful insights from the study is its identification of two simple, scalable criteria—recent hospitalization and diuretic use that can predict which heart failure patients are at highest risk. This is revolutionary in its simplicity. It doesn’t require advanced imaging, genomic testing, or expensive algorithms.

In a historic first for modern medicine, surgeons in the United States have successfully performed the world’s first bladder transplant in a living human. Announced on Sunday, the groundbreaking procedure was carried out by a joint team from Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) and UCLA Health at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

A Major Leap in Transplant Surgery

Leading this pioneering operation were Dr. Inderbir Gill, founding executive director of USC Urology, and Dr. Nima Nassiri, director of the UCLA Vascularized Composite Bladder Allograft Transplant Programme. The duo and their multidisciplinary team performed the complex surgery, marking a significant advancement in the treatment of patients with non-functional or severely damaged bladders.

“This surgery marks a historic moment in medicine and could revolutionize the treatment of patients with ‘terminal’ bladders that no longer function,” said Dr. Gill. “Transplantation is already lifesaving for many organs, and now the bladder can join that list.”

The Patient’s Journey

The recipient of the transplant was a man who had endured multiple serious health setbacks. More than five years ago, he underwent major cancer surgery that resulted in the loss of most of his bladder. Subsequently, both of his kidneys were removed due to renal cancer, leaving him dialysis-dependent for the past seven years.

“For carefully selected patients, this offers a promising new option,” Dr. Nassiri explained. “This first attempt at bladder transplantation was over four years in the making.”

How the Surgery Was Done

The innovative procedure involved transplanting both a kidney and a bladder from a deceased donor. Surgeons first implanted the kidney, followed by the bladder. In a final step, they connected the newly transplanted kidney to the new bladder to allow the system to function as a unit. The surgery lasted around eight hours.

The results were immediate and remarkable.

“The kidney started producing a large volume of urine right away, and the patient’s kidney function improved immediately,” said Dr. Nassiri. “There was no need for further dialysis, and the urine drained properly into the new bladder.”

What This Means for the Future

Bladder transplants have long been considered a distant possibility due to the organ’s complex structure and function. This successful case could pave the way for new treatment options for people with bladder failure, particularly those whose condition does not respond to conventional therapies.

Despite the complexity of the procedure, the patient is reportedly recovering well and showing positive signs of improvement. The success of this operation could lead to wider adoption in the future and clinical trials for selected patients.

“This is a big step forward,” said Dr. Gill. “We are hopeful that this opens a new chapter in organ transplantation and urological care.”

Children in Great Britain with serious mental health conditions are two-thirds more likely to have a limited ability to work in adulthood, according to research from a leading think tank. The report by researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) looked at data from about 6,000 people who took part in the 1970 British Cohort Study, which is following the lives of individuals born in a single week in 1970 across Great Britain.

The analysis found that people who had severe mental and behavioural issues as a child were 85% more likely to have symptoms of depression at the age of 51, and 68% more likely to have a long-term condition that affects their ability to work. Children with a physical health problem were 38% more likely to have limited capacity for work in later life, according to the analysis.

The government has pledged to “raise the healthiest generation of children in our history”. Labour has committed to introducing a targeted national dental hygiene programme, cutting paediatric waiting times with 2m more operations, and setting a 9pm watershed for junk food advertising.

The IPPR recommended the government safeguard spending on children and preventive spending in the NHS and other public services, and expand the role of the children’s commissioner.

In January, the Guardian reported that the number of children referred to emergency mental healthcare in England had risen by 10% in a year, with lengthy waiting lists for regular NHS care pushing more to crisis point.

Previous research by the IPPR estimated that the hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK had passed £100bn a year, with employees now losing the equivalent of 44 days of productivity because of working through sickness, up from 35 days in 2018.

Amy Gandon, an associate fellow at the thinktank and a former senior government official on children’s health, said: “Successive governments have failed to face up to the long-term consequences of poor child health. If this government is serious about building a preventative state, it must act decisively to improve the prospects of our children and young people.

“What’s more, the dividends from doing so need not be decades away; the right action now, for example, for those joining the workforce within a few years, can deliver better health, opportunity and growth within this parliament.”

Dr Jamie O’Halloran, a senior research fellow at the IPPR, said: “The earlier we address both physical and mental health challenges for children, the more likely we can prevent costly health conditions and worklessness later in life. This is not just a matter of improving individual lives, but also of alleviating long-term pressures on the state.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “As this report demonstrates, prevention is better than cure. That’s why this week, we expanded access to mental health teams in schools to almost an extra million children.

"We are investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers, and delivering an extra 345,000 talking therapies. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life."