Assisted reproduction technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003

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Release Date: 16 Feb 2006

Topic: Mothers & babies

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AIHW

AIHW, Waters A, Dean J, Sullivan E (2006) Assisted reproduction technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 04 May 2024.

APA

AIHW, Waters A, Dean J, Sullivan E. (2006). Assisted reproduction technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003. Canberra: AIHW.

MLA

AIHW, Waters A, Dean J, Sullivan E. Assisted reproduction technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003. AIHW, 2006.

Vancouver

AIHW, Waters A, Dean J, Sullivan E. Assisted reproduction technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003. Canberra: AIHW; 2006.

Harvard

AIHW, Waters A, Dean J, Sullivan E 2006, Assisted reproduction technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003, AIHW, Canberra.

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Assisted reproductive technology in Australia and New Zealand 2003 presents information on all assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatments that took place in 2003 and the resulting pregnancies and births. It is the second report using data from the Australian and New Zealand Assisted reproduction Database (ANZARD) implemented in 2002. The report includes information on ART treatment and presents specific data on pregnancy success rates and how they vary by treatment type, cause of infertility, and women's age. It also includes information on birth outcomes such as multiple birth, gestational age, birthweight and perinatal mortality.

ISSN: 1038-7234
ISBN: 978 1 74024 574 6
Cat. no: PER 31
Pages: 68

Summary

Treatment characteristics

During 2003, 39,720 treatment cycles were attempted in Australia and New Zealand. Of these, 90.7% (36,040) took place in Australia and 9.3% (3,680) in New Zealand.
In Australia, there were 8.4 treatment cycles per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15–44 years). Correspondingly, in New Zealand, there were 4.2 cycles per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15–44 years).
More than half (53.8%) of ART procedures involved fresh, non- donor oocytes or embryos, almost a third (31.9%) used frozen, non- donor embryos, 5.7% used oocytes or embryos received from a donor and 7.8% of cycles were intra-uterine insemination using donated sperm.
The average age of women undergoing treatment in 2003 was 35.2 years. Their partners were aged on average 37.8 years.
For fresh, non-donor (oocytes/embryos) cycles, 18.6% of all cycles started resulted in the delivery of at least one live baby. For frozen, non-donor (embryos) cycles, 13.9% of all cycles in which embryos were thawed resulted in the delivery of at least one live baby. The success of fresh, non-donor treatment varied among fertility centres. The highest ranked group of fertility centres achieved a live delivery in at least 20.2% of treatment attempts. The lowest ranked group of fertility centres achieved live delivery in less than 15.0% of treatment cycles.
In 2003, the majority (95.6%) of treatment cycles transferred one or two embryos.
The success of fresh, non-donor (oocytes/embryos) treatment cycles varied by women’s age. Women aged 25–29 years achieved the greatest success, with 27.7% of initiated cycles achieving a live delivery. Women aged 40–44 years had a success rate of 6.8%.

Pregnancies and births

Overall, there were 8,365 pregnancies reported in the 2003 cohort. Of these pregnancies, 23.1% were less than 20 weeks gestation and 76.9% were at least 20 weeks gestation resulting in 7,479 liveborn babies and 108 fetal deaths.
Of all pregnancies, 88.2% (7,374) were reported from fertility centres in Australia, resulting in 6,474 liveborn babies. Fertility centres in New Zealand reported 11.8% (991) of all pregnancies, resulting in 1,005 liveborn babies.
Of the 8,365 pregnancies arising from the 2003 conception cohort, 20.7% resulted in miscarriage. Ectopic pregnancies accounted for 1.8%. A small proportion (0.6%) were either reduced or terminated.
There were 1,163 (18.1%) multiple deliveries in the 2003 cohort. Of these, most (98.1%, 1,141) were deliveries of twins and a small proportion (0.3%, 22) were triplets.
Half (50.0%, 3,203) of deliveries were by caesarean section, almost twice the proportion reported for all Australian births in 2003 (28.5%). Whereas 47.8% of ART mothers aged younger than 38 years delivered by caesarean section, only 27.5% of mothers in this age group in the Australian population did so. Similarly, 59.0% of ART mothers aged 38 years or older delivered by caesarean section, compared with only 41.1% of same-aged mothers in the Australian population.
The average age of women giving birth was 34.4 years, 4.9 years older than the average age of Australian mothers in 2003 (29.5 years).
The average gestational age of all babies was 37.2 weeks. More than a quarter (26.6%) of babies were born preterm with a gestational age of less than 37 weeks. This is a lower proportion than that reported in 2000 (32.6%), suggesting improved outcomes for babies following assisted reproduction.
The average birthweight of all babies was 2,990 grams. Babies born with low birthweight (<2,500 g) made up 21.8% of all babies, which is less than the 26.4% of babies with low birthweight in 2000. However, babies born following ART in 2003 had a lower average birthweight than that reported for all babies in Australia in 2003 (3,372 g).
There were 142 reported perinatal deaths in the 2003 cohort, comprising 108 fetal deaths and 34 neonatal deaths. This represents a perinatal mortality rate of 18.7 deaths per 1,000 births. This is higher than the perinatal mortality rate reported for the 2002 cohort (17.3 deaths per 1,000 births).