A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine links data from the SART Clinic Outcome Reporting System to show that, with favorable patient and embryo characteristics, IVF live-birth rates approach those of natural conception.
The researchers reviewed data from 246,740 women, with 471,208 cycles and 140,859 live births, finding that live-birth rates declined with increasing maternal age and increasing cycle number when patients’ own eggs were used, but live-birth rates remained high in donor egg cycles.
ASRM and SART issued the following statement on the study:
Leaders of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology reacted today to a new publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. The article links the annual registry of assisted reproductive technology cycles with individuals to show the overall cumulative success rate of IVF procedures to be 57%.
“This study provides patients with important and encouraging information” said Glenn Schattman, MD, President of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology. “While tracking outcomes by cycle started or single embryo transfer is a valuable method for assessing quality, having cumulative data linked to individual patients better estimates the prospect for success when they start a treatment cycle. SART and its member clinics have invested enormous time and resources into tracking outcomes data for decades, all with the goal of improving patient treatment,” Dr. Schattman concluded.
“Having the data to demonstrate that medically assisted conception can nearly match rates of natural conception is an important milestone,” according to Dolores J. Lamb, PhD President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.