With more than 1.5% of the babies born in the US conceived through IVF, it’s time to review the latest data on Clinic Success Rates .
Ever since the first report issued in 1997, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has partnered with the Society for Advanced Reproductive Technology (SART) to create the premier example of a medical specialty openly reporting the outcome of their treatment. For nearly twenty years now they have issued a joint annual account of how center’s fair individually as well as collectively in treating infertility through Advanced Reproductive Techniques. Each year this summary provides a wealth of information to track trends emerging in fertility treatment as well as set standards-for-care. This latest report is no exception.
The current summary reflects all of the babies born from ART treatment in 2013. The data reporting is delayed in order to include the pregnancy outcome from embryos transferred prior to the end of the year. Currently there are 380 SART Member Clinics included. They collectively performed nearly 175,000 IVF cycles that resulted in the birth of 63,286 babies. This reflects a substantial increase in both access to treatment as well as an increase in live births from the previous year.
Another encouraging finding was an increase in the number of Elective Single Embryo Transfers (ESET). This reflects a greater effort to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies born through ART as well as a boost in patient confidence. Best of all was that even though the number of babies born went up; the twin rate fell by 3% and the triplet rate was reduced by nearly 10%. Nearly 80% of the successful treatment cycles resulted in the birth of a single baby!
The summary data report for the nation provides many useful insights into the field of reproductive medicine. Now this data is incorporated into a patient prediction model that allows couples to create an individualized estimate of what their anticipated pregnancy rate would be for one cycle of IVF. This model does assume that your clinic of choice is achieving IVF conception rates that are around average. As a healthcare consumer, you can access the data base to view your clinic’s success rate and compare it to the national average. If you find that your center is well below average, don’t make any assumptions. Instead ask questions to determine if they have made changes that you find reassuring before moving forward with treatment.
[r1]Link to https://www.sartcorsonline.com/rptCSR_PublicMultYear.aspx?ClinicPKID=0
[r2]Link to https://www.sartcorsonline.com/Predictor/Patient
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