Births after assisted conception are continuing to increase in
Australia, according to a report released today by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare.
The rise is occurring with increasingly successful use of a
technique known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), as well
as 'conventional' in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and gamete
intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) techniques.
Assisted Conception Australia and New Zealand 1997, by
the AIHW's National Perinatal Statistics Unit at the University of
New South Wales, shows that there were 3,458 births in Australia
after assisted conception in 1997, a 9.3% increase on the previous
year.
The Director of the National Perinatal Statistics Unit, Dr Paul
Lancaster, said that the message that is 'probably of greatest
interest to couples considering assisted conception' is that 'when
all techniques of assisted conception are put together, births
occurred in 15.2% of treatment cycles'.
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection accounted for 41% of embryo
transfer cycles in 1997, compared with just under 20% in 1994.
'Another interesting finding was that about 9% of assisted
conception mothers were aged 40 years or more, compared with 2% of
all mothers giving birth.
'Similarly, about 25% of assisted conception fathers were 40 or
over compared with 10% of all new fathers.'
Multiple pregnancies (i.e. twins, triplets, etc.) occurred in
20% of all IVF and GIFT pregnancies, compared with only 1.4% of all
pregnancies in Australia. There was considerable variation in
multiple pregnancy rates among the 29 IVF and GIFT units in
Australia (range 7% to 30%).
Other findings in Assisted Conception Australia and New
Zealand 1997 include:
- The number of treatment cycles for all types of assisted
conception increased from 16,809 in 1991 to 25,766 in 1997.
- More than half of all fetal and neonatal deaths after assisted
conception occurred in multiple births.
10 September 1999
Further information: Dr Paul Lancaster, NPSU,
ph. 02 9382 1047 or 02 9427 0112 (ah).
For media copies of the report: Ms Lena Searle,
AIHW, ph. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.