IUI Success Rates: What to Expect at FSAC

Wondering what your own chances with IUI might look like is completely natural, and you deserve a real, honest answer that helps you feel prepared and confident moving forward.

No single percentage can capture IUI success, since your chances depend on factors like age, diagnosis, and medication, and sometimes even the details within each of those.

You may have seen us reference SART, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, on other pages, since SART publishes verified outcome data for IVF and other ART cycles.

SART does not track IUI outcomes at all. There are simply too many variables at play, and those variables interact differently for each person, which is why a single data point could never tell the full story. We rely on peer-reviewed research instead, so the numbers ahead reflect real, documented outcomes.

Below, we will walk through what affects your chances, plainly, one factor at a time, so you can bring your own questions to your own care team.

What Affects IUI Success

Age, underlying diagnosis, whether medication is used, and sperm quality all shape IUI success in different ways.

Understanding each one will give you real answers to bring into your own care.

Age and IUI Success

Age is the single most influential factor in IUI success. According to a 2015 peer-reviewed study of over 17,000 unmedicated IUI cycles, published in Reproductive Medicine and Biology, per-cycle pregnancy rates were 8.2 percent for women under 35, 7.3 percent for ages 35 to 37, 5.5 percent for ages 38 to 40, 3.6 percent for ages 41 to 42, and 0.9 percent for women over 42. Because these were unmedicated cycles, they don’t reflect IUI combined with ovulation medication, which we cover below.

Hormone levels and follicular count also shape your individual chances of success.

Our team is also seeing diminished ovarian reserve, once considered mainly a concern for women in their late 30s and 40s, more often in patients in their 20s.

Your own bloodwork and monitoring will give a much clearer, more personal picture of your fertility than age alone ever could, and that clarity works in your favor. Upon visiting our clinic, our care team will look at your bloodwork, your monitoring results, and your age together, to build a plan around you specifically.

Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol

Unexplained infertility and ovulatory issues, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), now also referred to as PMOS, tend to respond best to medicated IUI. Per ASRM, medicated IUI roughly doubles the pregnancy rate compared to no treatment at all for unexplained infertility.

Severe male factor infertility, blocked fallopian tubes, and moderate-to-severe endometriosis tend to respond poorly to IUI, and a poor response is not a reflection on you. IVF is usually the better-suited option for those diagnoses, and our team is glad to sit down with you and walk through why, with care and without judgment.

Sperm quality plays a role as well, particularly the total motile sperm count after the sample is washed and prepared for insemination. In a 2023 peer-reviewed study of 2,169 IUI cycles published in Human Fertility, higher post-wash motile counts were linked with better odds, though the researchers could not identify a single cutoff for when IUI should or shouldn’t be offered.

How Many IUI Cycles Should You Try?

How many cycles to try depends on your age and diagnosis. For unexplained infertility, ASRM guidance recommends a course of three or four IUI cycles with oral medication before reassessing the plan. Age matters too. In the unmedicated-cycle study cited above, pregnancy rates were highest in the first three cycles for women under 40, and roughly 67 to 74 percent of live births in those age groups happened within those first three cycles.

Cost is part of that conversation, too. IVF costs more per cycle than IUI, but repeated IUI cycles add up. In the NIH-funded FASTT trial of 503 couples with unexplained infertility, those who moved to IVF sooner, rather than continuing with injectable-medication IUI cycles, became pregnant in a median of 8 months instead of 11, with average charges per delivery about $9,800 lower.

An unsuccessful cycle still gives your team useful information about how your body is responding, which helps guide whether to continue with IUI or move toward IVF, together with your care team.

If a cycle does not result in pregnancy, your team may adjust the medication, dosage, or timing for the next attempt, based on how your body responds.

The percentages above reflect a single cycle on its own. Trying more than one cycle generally raises your overall chances, even though each individual attempt carries lower odds by itself.

IUI vs IVF: When the Data Points Toward IVF

Sometimes the clearest next step is IVF, and knowing that early can save you time.

Success rate is only one part of the decision. Your age, diagnosis, and how many IUI cycles you have already tried all factor into whether IUI or IVF makes more sense for you next.

IVF has meaningfully higher per-cycle success than IUI. FSAC’s own 2023 Final SART data shows a 49.1 percent live birth rate per intended egg retrieval for people under 35, compared with the 8.2 percent per-cycle pregnancy rate for unmedicated IUI in the same age group cited above. These figures measure different outcomes in different patient groups, so treat them as context rather than a direct comparison.

A comparison of clinic success rates may not be personally applicable because patient medical characteristics, treatment approaches, and entry criteria for ART may vary from clinic to clinic.

SART data carries an inherent two-year reporting lag, since cycles are tracked over a two-year period before a report is finalized, and exact timing can vary slightly by clinic. Because of this lag, FSAC’s most current published data is from 2023.

You can view FSAC’s full SART Clinical Summary Report directly, or learn more about IVF at FSAC.

Let’s Talk About Your Realistic Odds

The factors above are general, and a thorough consultation is the only way to know what these factors mean for your specific situation. Reach out to FSAC’s team, and we’ll walk through your own history, your own numbers, and the path that makes the most sense for you, together, every step of the way.

Explore FSAC’s treatments or contact FSAC to take the first step towards having a baby.