Assisted reproductive technology in Australia and New Zealand 2007

This is the thirteenth annual report on the use of ART in Australia and New Zealand, and presents data on women who underwent ART treatments in 2007, and the resulting pregnancies and baby outcomes. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) — such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) — are a group of procedures used to assist women to become pregnant. ART usually involves removing oocytes (eggs) from a woman’s ovaries, fertilising them in the laboratory and then transferring the resulting embryo(s) back into a woman’s uterus. Over the last five years, the number of ART procedures has increased on average by over 10% per year in Australia and New Zealand. Latest estimates indicate that 3.1% and 1.8% of babies born in Australia and New Zealand respectively are as a result of ART treatment. In 2007, there were 56,817 assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment cycles undertaken in Australian and New Zealand. Of these cycles, 17.4% resulted in a live delivery (the birth of at least one liveborn baby). In total, 10,856 liveborn babies were born following ART treatment undertaken in 2007. The most important recent trend in ART treatment has been the reduction in the rate of twins and triplets births, with the multiple delivery rate falling from 18.7% in 2003 to 10.0% in 2007. This trend has been associated with an increase in the proportion of ART treatment cycles using single embryo transfer, from 32.0% in 2003 to 63.7% in 2007. Authored by Wang YA, Chambers G, Dieng M & Sullivan EA