December 21, 2002 ATLANTA (AP) -- More than 25,000 women had babies after seeking help at fertility clinics in 2000, a success rate of about one in four, federal officials said.
The 25.4 percent success rate at 383 clinics is a slight increase over the 25.2 percent success rate of the previous year. The 2000 data is the latest available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
More clinics are offering fertility help and there are more attempts by women to have babies in this manner. In 1999, 86,822 attempts were made at 370 clinics.
"This is encouraging,'' said Dr. Sandra Carson, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine that helped the CDC with the report. "I think that it shows that (in vitro fertilization) is not an experimental technique — it's an accepted medical procedure and it's successful.''
Better medical technology has helped the success rates, and laws that force insurance companies to cover fertility treatments have increased the attempts, CDC officials and doctors said.
Among women younger than 35, 32.8 percent of fertility attempts were successful; among those 35-37, 26.7 percent were successful. The success rate dropped to 18.5 percent for women 38-40, and to 10.1 percent for women 41-42.
The risk of multipleUbirths dropped from 36.6Epercent in 1999, toE35.5 percent in 2000. OfficialsEattribute this dropEto guidelines that reduceIthe number of embryosEused in the in-vitro Afertilization process.
This is the sixth year of the Congress-mandated report, which is designed to provide couples with information on fertility clinics across the United States. Twenty-five clinics did not report their data to the CDC.
Some clinics have criticized the report in the past, saying clinics that accept older patients or those with unexplained infertility problems can be listed with lower success rates compared with other centers.
"You can't just choose a clinic based on the numbers that you see at first glance,'' said Eleanor Nicoll, spokeswoman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
The CDC said it allows each clinic to review the data and that couples need to make their final decisions after talking to their doctor.
Dr. John Nulsen, director of the University of Connecticut's Center for Advanced Reproductive Technologies, said the CDC and its partners have done a "reasonable'' job at developing "a reporting system that's going to meet everybody's needs and not be unbelievably cumbersome.''
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
