IVF advocates were pleased to hear the new statistic that over 5 million children have been born through IVF. The figure comes from a study, the first of its kind, into IVF statistics from countries around the world. Researchers scoured government archives for information about how many women had used the procedure since its introduction. Occasionally estimates had to be made, particularly in the case of China, where no IVF information was recorded. Researchers estimated that 900,000 children had been born after IVF in China alone.

 

Of all children in the world born by IVF, an astounding one-third of these children have been born in the past six years.

 

A lot of this has to do with increased success rates,” says Dr Robert Stillman, medical director emeritus at Shady Grove Fertility Center in Rockville, Maryland, which says it performs more IVF cycles than any other US clinic. “There has been a steady improvement in the ability to culture embryos and improve pregnancy rates. A 38-year-old coming to us in 1997 versus 2007 versus 2013 has a very different prognosis.”

 

Information from www.bioedge.org