New information for fertility patients published

08 March 2010

New data published by HFEA for the first time today will give fertility patients an in depth look at the likely success of their treatment.

Choose a Fertility Clinic, launched last year, gives patients a clinic by clinic breakdown of success rates. The new in depth analysis of national data being published today will give patients a nationwide picture covering thousands of treatment cycles and their outcomes.

Patients can now look in detail at information relevant to them: by age, whether it is IVF or ICSI, fresh or frozen embryos, or using their own or donor eggs. The information then covers the patient pathway from the beginning of treatment right through to the outcome including:

  • of those who start treatment how many go on to have a baby 
  • the likelihood of becoming pregnant with a singleton or multiples 
  • what may happen to the pregnancy – singleton, multiple or pregnancy loss 
  • and the outcome for the babies born as a result of treatment including whether they are pre-term or low birth weight

Carried out by the Oxford based National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, the analysis looks at IVF and ICSI treatment cycles which took place in 2006. Over 13,000 babies were born that year as a result of fertility treatment, 61 per cent were singletons, 38 per cent were twins and one per cent were triplets or above.

Fertility treatment success rates for women 37 and younger are much higher than for women over 37, as are the multiple birth rates. The risk of losing one or both babies in multiple pregnancy is also much higher for older women.

Prof Lisa Jardine, Chair of the HFEA, said:

“No decision is more personal than a decision about your own fertility. We want to help people make their choices by making available as much evidence and analysis as we can provide. This new set of data adds a whole new dimension to what is available.”

This new information complements the data already published on HFEA’s Choose a Fertility Clinic site at: www.hfea.gov.uk/guide. As well as its usefulness for patients the data will also be a valuable source of information for fertility clinicians and researchers.

Ends

 

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Notes to editors

  • The 2006 national data was first published in late 2008. NPEU has worked on analysing the data over the past year. HFEA will continue to carry out this in depth analysis of the data it collects. Data from treatments carried out in 2007 was published late in 2009.
  • Multiple births are the biggest health risk to mothers and babies following IVF. This data pre dates the HFEA’s strategy to reduce multiple births. However, it emphasises the importance of elective single embryo transfer for younger women who are most likely to have a successful outcome to their treatment, to minimise the risk of multiple pregnancy and promote the birth of a healthy, single baby following fertility treatment. For further information of the risks associated with multiple births please see go to: www.oneatatime.org.uk 
  • The HFEA is the independent regulator for IVF treatment and embryo research. Our role is to protect patients and the public interest, to drive improvement in the treatment and research sectors and to provide information to the public and policymakers about treatment and research. 
  • The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA’s principal tasks are to license and monitor clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), artificial insemination (AI) and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos. See www.hfea.gov.uk for further details.

Page last updated: 08 March 2010