Dal Canto MD, Bartolacci A, Turchi D, et al. - Researchers examined the association of early developmental kinetics with competence to provide a live birth. Further, they examined the impact of maternal age in this context. In this retrospective cohort study, 4,915 embryos were assessed; of these, 1,390 were transferred and provided a clinical outcome paired with morphokinetic data; 168 of them resulted in a live birth (LB), and 1,222 did not (NLB). In total, 1,066 patients undergoing autologous intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles with fresh single (SET), double (DET) or triple (TET) embryo transfers on day 2 or 3 were included in this study. Of them, 669 patients produced NLB embryos and 134 produced LB embryos. This study yielded novel data indicating overall faster early developmental kinetics among embryos competent to provide a live birth vs embryos that do not achieve a live birth after transfer, a difference that, however, narrows as maternal age advances. Findings thereby indicate that fertilization and cleavage morphokinetic parameters may constitute relevant references for embryo selection strategies aiming to enhance live birth rates, particularly before advanced maternal age while holding limited utility in advanced maternal age.