By IANS,
Sydney : Latest fertility treatments helped younger and older women in Australia and New Zealand conceive 10,522 babies in 2006, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The institute reported that 9,291 babies were born in Australia and 1,231 in New Zealand with assisted reproduction treatment (ART).
“Of these 10,522 babies, over 78 percent were single births – the highest proportion ever reported. About 20 percent were twins and less than one percent were higher order multiple births,” said Peter Illingworth, president of the Fertility Society of Australia.
For women aged 40 or older who used their own fresh eggs, only six percent of cycles resulted in a live delivery.
However, the proportion of women aged older than 40 years who did achieve successful birth outcomes increased from 14 percent in 2002 to 16 percent in 2006.
The number of babies whose conception was assisted by fertility treatments increased by 5 percent over the previous year, adding to a 34 percent rise in ‘ART babies’ since 2002, said a Sciencealert report.
“Single-embryo transfer cycles are on the rise, reflecting the continuing trend of fewer embryos transferred per ART treatment cycle,” Illingworth said.
More than half (57 percent) of all embryo transfer cycles in 2006 were single-embryo transfers, compared to around 48 percent in 2005, 41 percent in 2004, 32 percent in 2003 and 28 percent in 2002.
The report showed a 13.7 percent increase in treatment cycles over 2005. There were 53,543 treatment cycles in 2006. Of them, 91 percent (48,607) were in Australian fertility centres and 9 percent in New Zealand.