Assisted conception, Australia and New Zealand 1994 and 1995

Assisted conception, Australia and New Zealand 1994 and 1995 is the second report on the use of assisted reproduction technology (ART) in Australia and New Zealand.

Highlights

• In Australia, infertile couples were treated by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) in 23 IVF units in 1994 and in 24 units in 1995. New Zealand had 5 IVF units in this period. There were 2,715 births after assisted conception in Australia in 1994, accounting for 1.0% of all births. In New Zealand, there were 160 births after assisted conception in 1994.
• After transfer of fresh embryos to the uterus, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 10.2 per 100 oocyte retrieval cycles in 1994 and 11.5 per 100 cycles in 1995. After GIFT, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 20.7 and 20.6 per 100 oocyte retrieval cycles in 1994 and 1995, respectively. After embryo freezing, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 10.9 and 11.1 per 100 embryo transfer cycles in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
• There was a marked increase in treatment cycles in which intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and occasionally other types of microinsemination, were attempted. Oocyte retrieval cycles for microinsemination increased from 1,243 in 1993 to 2,786 in 1994 and 4,261 in 1995. With an additional 929 embryo transfer cycles in 1994 after microinsemination and embryo freezing, and 1,794 transfer cycles in 1995, microinsemination accounted for 19.7% of all assisted conception cycles in 1994 and for 30.0% in 1995.
• The live-birth pregnancy rates for microinsemination and transfer of fresh embryos were 10.9 per 100 oocyte retrieval cycles in 1994 and 13.1 per 100 cycles in 1995. For cycles after microinsemination and embryo freezing, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 13.3 per 100 embryo transfer cycles in 1994 and 11.6 per 100 cycles in 1995.
• After oocyte donation and IVF, the live-birth pregnancy rates were 9.5 per 100 embryo transfer cycles in 1994 and 14.8 per 100 cycles in 1995.
• More than 3 embryos were transferred to the uterus in 2.4% of IVF cycles in 1994 and 1.9% of cycles in 1995 but, for GIFT, more than 3 oocytes were transferred in 4.7% of cycles in 1994 and 5.6% of cycles in 1995.
• In IVF pregnancies, twins declined from 15.7% in 1993 to 15.1% in 1994, triplets occurred in 1.5% in 1993 and 1.6% in 1994, and there was 1 quadruplet pregnancy in each year. In GIFT pregnancies, twins increased from 21.7% in 1993 to 22.3% in 1994; triplets increased from 2.5% in 1993 to 3.9% in 1994; and there were 2 quadruplet pregnancies in 1994.
• In 1994, 46 (56.8%) of 81 perinatal deaths after IVF, and 33 (75.0%) of 44 perinatal deaths after GIFT, occurred in multiple births.
• Among 793 IVF pregnancies after microinsemination between 1990 and 1994, live births occurred in 76.2%, spontaneous abortion in 19.7%, and ectopic pregnancy in 2.3%. Twins occurred in 14.7% of viable pregnancies, triplets in 1.5%, and there was one quadruplet pregnancy. Among 724 births, the perinatal death rate was 33.1 per 1,000 births; for singleton births, it was 19.5 per 1,000 births, for twins, 61.5 per 1,000 births, and for triplets, 111.1 per 1,000 births. Congenital malformations were reported in 26 (3.6%) fetuses and infants.