European pregnancy rates from IVF and ICSI 'appear to have reached a peak'

June 25, 2019

Vienna 25 June 2019: The latest annual data collected by ESHRE from European national registries (for 2016) show another rise in the cumulative use of IVF in the treatment of infertility, although success rates after IVF or ICSI appear to have reached a peak, with pregnancy rates per started treatment calculated at 27.1% after IVF and 24.3% after ICSI. The figures, although indicative of a slight decline in pregnancy rate, continue a recent trend of conventional IVF cycles performing better than ICSI.

The one treatment in which cycle numbers and success rates continue to rise is in frozen embryo cycles in which embryos cryopreserved in storage are thawed for transfer in a later cycle. Pregnancy rate per started treatment in 2016 was 30.5%, an increase over 2015 of 1.3%. Around one half of the total European cycles analysed by ESHRE were transfers from frozen embryos, also an increase over 2015. Dr Christian de Geyter, chair of ESHRE's European IVF Monitoring Consortium, said the number of frozen embryo transfers was likely to increase as more and more clinics adopt a single embryo transfer policy (and thus store more embryos) or take up 'freeze-all' strategies to avoid embryo transfer in an initial stimulated cycle.

In Europe, Spain remains the most active country in assisted reproduction, with a record a record 140,909 treatment cycles performed. Spain continues to set the pace ahead of Russia (121,235 cycles), France (104,733) and Germany (969,226). The cycles monitored by ESHRE include treatments with IVF, ICSI, intrauterine insemination and egg donation.(2)

The report covers a total of more than 800,000 treatment cycles performed in 2016, with 165,000 babies born - and represents the largest and most accurate snapshot of assisted reproduction in Europe.(2) Dr de Geyter will present the results today in Vienna at the 35th Annual Meeting of ESHRE.

He estimates that around 84% of all European assisted reproduction fertility treatments are now included in the ESHRE monitoring programme - although this year (for 2016) without ther inclusion of any data so far from the UK, which usually performs around 60,000 treatments a year.

Among other findings:

• Clinics in Europe continue to favour ICSI over IVF by around two-to-one (359,858 ICSI, 128,626 IVF cycles), a pattern now evident throughout the world. ICSI was developed in the early 1990s as a specific treatment for male infertility (low sperm counts, poor sperm quality) but is now clearly used for fertilisation in non-male cases.
  
  
• Pregnancy rates are higher with five-day old embryos (blastocysts) than with three-day, another widely favoured strategy.
  
  
• Pregnancy rates from egg donation continue to rise (now at about 50%), making egg donation the most successful treatment available.
  
  
• The rate of twin pregnancy continues to decline in Europe, in 2016 to around 15%. Similarly, the rate of single embryo transfers continues to rise - from 11% in 1997 to above 40% in 2016.

'Success rates have stabilised,' said Dr de Geyter, 'although outcome in egg donation and with use of frozen embryos is still moving upwards. The biggest upwards movement, however, is from treatments with frozen eggs, which have been revolutionised by the widespread introduction of vitrification.' Twenty-two countries reported activity in egg donation treatment with frozen banked eggs (11,196 cycles), achieving a pregnancy rate of 43.7% and delivery rate of 29.9%.

Dr de Geyter also noted that the availability of assisted reproduction treatment remains very patchy in Europe, with Denmark and Belgium each offering more than 2500 treatment cycles per million population, while others (such as Austria and Italy) offer considerably fewer. A study calculated that the global need for advanced fertility treatments was around 1500 cycles per million population per year. 'Only a minority of European countries meet this need,' said De Geyter.Abstract 0-145, Tuesday 25 June 2019

O-145: European IVF monitoring of ART

1. The data collection and monitoring of ESHRE's EIM Consortium have grown more complex with the progress of ART. IUI was added to the techniques monitored in 2002, while present data collections must include PGD, in vitro maturation, and frozen oocyte replacement. Collecting data on a single procedure is no longer a simple matter of recording a cycle, but must now acknowledge oocyte and/or embryo cryopreservation, transfer in a fresh or future (non-stimulated) cycle, and outcome, which may well be several years after the initial egg collection cycle.

2. The total number of cycles submitted to the ESHRE Consortium is now increasing by about 10% per year, meaning that the Consortium has monitored a cumulative total of around 9.6 million cycles since its formation in 1997 and more than 1.82 million children born.

When obtaining outside comment, journalists are requested to ensure that their contacts are aware of the embargo on this release.

For further information on the details of this press release, contact:

Christine Bauquis at ESHRE
Mobile: +32 (0)499 25 80 46
Email: christine@eshre.eu

European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

Related Embryos Articles from Brightsurf:

Zebrafish embryos help prove what happens to nanoparticles in the blood
What happens to the nanoparticles when they are injected into the bloodstream, for example, to destroy solid tumours?

Artificial intelligence system developed to help better select embryos for implantation
Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital are developing an artificial intelligence system with the goal of improving IVF success by helping embryologists objectively select embryos most likely to result in a healthy birth.

Embryos taking shape via buckling
The embryo of an animal first looks like a hollow sphere.

Who's your daddy? Male seahorses transport nutrients to embryos
New research by Dr Camilla Whittington and her team at the University of Sydney has found male seahorses transport nutrients to their developing babies during pregnancy.

Study suggests embryos could be susceptible to coronavirus
Genes that are thought to play a role in how the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects our cells have been found to be active in embryos as early as during the second week of pregnancy, say scientists at the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Spawning fish and embryos most vulnerable to climate's warming waters
Spawning fish and embryos are far more vulnerable to Earth's warming waters than fish in other life stages, according to a new study, which uniquely relates fish physiological tolerance to temperature across the lifecycles of nearly 700 fish species.

Animal embryos evolved before animals
A new study by an international team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Bristol and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, has discovered that animal-like embryos evolved long before the first animals appear in the fossil record.

Choosing the best embryos
Struggling with infertility? You are not alone. Infertility affects one out of every six Canadian couples.

Turtle embryos play a role in determining their own sex
In certain turtle species, the temperature of the egg determines whether the offspring is female or male.

Early in vitro testing for adverse effects on embryos
ETH researchers have combined embryonic cells and liver cells in a new cell culture test.

Read More: Embryos News and Embryos Current Events