Use of ART increases in US

Dr. Kirsty Horsey

Progress Educational Trust

07 January 2004

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[BioNews, London] The seventh annual report of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which contains information on the conceptions and births of more than 40,000 babies born following the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in America in 2001, was published last month. The report summarises data collected from nearly 400 fertility clinics around the US. It shows that in the year 2001 there was a 16 per cent increase from the previous year in the number of children born in the US following the use of (ARTs). It also shows that the total number of ART procedures conducted in the US increased from 99,639 in 2000 to 107,587 in the same year.

According to the CDC statistics, 27 per cent of ART procedures that took place in 2001 using a woman's fresh eggs resulted in the birth of a child, compared with 25.4 per cent in 2000. The study also found that the likelihood that a woman would conceive decreased as she got older. Women below 35 years old had a 35 per cent success rate using ART, while for women aged 35-37 the success rate was 28 per cent. The success rate decreased to 20 per cent for women aged between 38-40, for women aged 41-42 it decreased to 10 per cent, while for women older than 42 the success rate was only four per cent.

For the first time since the annual reporting of statistics began, the CDC report contains information on the number of singleton births, which will be counted as an additional measure of success for clinics as they become more concerned about the risks and impact of multiple births. In 2001, 36 per cent of births following the use of ARTs using fresh eggs were multiple births, compared with only three per cent in the general population in the same period of time.

Reproduced with permission from BioNews, an email and online sources of news, information and comment on assisted reproduction and genetics.