IVF births in US hit 1.5%

Michael Cook
7 March 2015
Reproduced with Permission
BioEdge

More than 1.5% of the babies born in the United States in 2013 were IVF babies, according to the latest statistics from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology .

In that year, 380 clinics reported on 174,962 IVF cycles resulting in the birth of 63,286 babies, up from 165,172 cycles and 61,740 babies born in 2012.

Most strikingly, more women, no matter their age, chose to have a single embryo transferred. The increasing popularity of this choice was greatest in the youngest age group, women under 35, with 22.5% of those patients choosing the single embryo option in 2013, up from 14.8% in 2012. For older women, the average number of embryos transferred was about 50% higher - at least 2.7 embryos.

While the number of total IVF cycles performed and the total number of babies born as a result went up, the number of twin births resulting from IVF declined from 12,436 in 2012 to 12,085; triplet were down to 376 from 411 in 2012.

The figures also show how difficult it is for women over 40 to conceive with IVF. For under-35s, the percentage of transfers resulting in live births was, according to the SART statistics , 47.7%. But for women aged 41 and 42, it was only 16.3% and for women over 42, only 7.3%.

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