Page 17 - Focus on REPRODUCTION SEP 2015

TOTAL OF WORLD’S IVF BABIES NOW SOARS BEYOND 6 MILLION
Hold those abstracts. Easy on the front pages. For in just three years the total of IVF babies throughout the world has risen from a remarkable 5 million to well over 6 million, according to the USA’s David Adamson presenting global results for 2011 on behalf of ICMART. His figures were based on an estimated 1.6 million cycles now being performed each year and the delivery of around 430,000 babies.
Of course, Adamson reported ‘huge differences’ in availability, practice and results, but was confident (‘almost certain’)
that China is performing more cycles than any other country - including Japan, which, with 268,255 cycles recorded in 2011, ranked by far as the world’s most prolific reported IVF nation. Adamson said that even the number of clinics in China ran into thousands and it was likely that they now represent the major portion of global activity. ‘Asia,’ added Adamson, ‘has caught up and passed all other regions.’ The USA recorded 142,000 cycles in 2011, with Europe’s biggest nations, France and Spain, on 72,000 and 88,000 respectively.
uptake trends, favouring IVF in the past three years. However, Kupka's remarks of greatest emphasis were
concentrated on the numbers of embryos transferred, which yet again showed an increase in single embryo transfers. SET has now reached an overall uptake of 30%, while DET remains stable at aroound 55%. Three embryo transfer also continues its decline, and is now just 14% of all transfers. A few countries in eastern Europe (Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro) still have the highest rates of three embryo transfer.
Nevertheless, the rate of triplet deliveries remains below 1%, and the overall twin delivery rate
throughout Europe fell to a record low of 17.3, with singletons at an all-time high of 81.9%. ‘This is good news,’ said Kupka, ‘and I'm very happy to report it.’
Europe’s twin rate, added Kupka, remains much lower than that recorded by the CDC in the USA. There, twins account for 26% of all ART pregnancies and deliveries, with singleton live births at 72%.
Kupka was also upbeat about the introduction of online data collection this year which should provide a digital data connection between the clinic, national ART registries, and the EIM hub. The EIM’s next data collection - for 2013 - will be gathered electronically.
CARLOS CALHAZ-JORGE SELECTED AS NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE EIM CONSORTIUM
The term of office of Markus Kupka as Chairman of the EIM Steering Committee came to an end in Lisbon. He will be replaced by the Portuguese gynaecologist Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, a long- standing member of the Steering Committee. He is pictured here standing in the foreground with the outgoing Chairman.
Other members of the EIM
Consortium pictured are,
front row from left, Tanya
Milachich (BU), Janos
Urbancsek (HU), Nebojsa
Radunovic (SW), Markus
Kupka (DE), Carlos Calhaz-
Jorge (PT), Jacques De
Mouzon (FR), Vladislav
Korsak (RU); second row, Roberto De Luca (IT), Ladislav Marsik (SK), Giulia Scaravelli (It), Tatjana Motrenko (MO) , Valeria Godunova (LV), Giedre Belo Lopez (LT), Jean Calleja-Agius (MT), Veerle Goossens (ESHRE); third row, Dejan Ljiljak (CR), Vyacheslav Lokshin (KZ), Karin Erb (DK), Anna Pia Ferraretti (IT), Christine Wyns (BE), Elena Petrovskaya (BY) , Ioana Rugescu (RO); fourth row, Deniss Soritsa (EE), Bogdan Doroftei (RO), Mykola Gryshchenko (UK), Fernando Prados (ES) , Michael Pelekanos (CY), Irma Virant-Klum (SI); and back row, Sandra Zamora (ES), Christian De Geyter (CH), José Antonio Castilla (ES), Dominique Royere (FR), Jesper Smeenk (NL).
SEPTEMBER 2015 // Focus on Reproduction 17