Understanding IVF Success Rates Data
If you are in the process of choosing a fertility care provider, you probably have already examined the Society of Reproductive Technology (SART) national IVF success rate data and you are beginning to compare prospective pregnancy success rates for your age group. If you plan to use conventional IVF and multiple-embryo transfers and your fertility health perfectly matches that of the "ideal IVF candidate" in your age group, then SART data may indeed be a reliable benchmark for you.
However, because New Hope Fertility specializes in Natural Cycle and Mini-IVFTM treatments and promotes single-embryo transfers (to reduce risks associated with multiple births), it will be difficult to compare our data with that of SART and other clinics, since SART only tracks success rates of conventional IVF and multiple-embryo transfers. To afford you some kind of comparison, the table below reports our live birth rates and a what-if scenario that statistically represents what our live birth rates would be had we also transferred the same number of embryos as other SART clinics transfer.
Our data is presented as a comparison against national IVF success averages provided by the SART. SART compiles reported data from 392 US fertility clinics (85 percent of all U.S. clinics) and presents the data for the industry and for patients in aggregate, by clinic, and by infertility cause. Click here to see their reports.
We transfer an average of 1.48 embryos per cycle compared to the average 2.92 other clinics transfer. Statistically, transferring double the embryos obviously skews their success rate data, but it does not necessarily mean that those clinics are more successful. It just means their patients have a 13 to 33 percent chance for twins versus our eight percent chance for twins. Clearly from the following table, we are equally successful with our Mini-IVFTM treatment. If we also transferred two to three embryos, our live birth rates would be very similar to SART, as you can see in our what-if column. The converse is also true: If SART's transfer rate matched ours, their live birth rates would be statistically lower and similar to ours.
Our frozen embryo live birth rates are significantly higher than our fresh transfer cycles. We have a 42 percent frozen live birth rate for women under 35, which rivals SART's fresh live birth rate and exceeds their frozen rate. This should give confidence to women and couples who preserve their fertility by freezing embryos for their Embryo Bank. Our frozen success rates are higher because our vitrification freezing method is superior to conventionally employed cryopreservation techniques. Additionally, we usually only freeze blastocyst embryos, which have a 40 percent greater chance of pregnancy than Day 2, Day 3, or Day 4 embryos (which we often use in our fresh embryo transfer cycles).
If you are over 39, it is important to understand that most conventional IVF clinics deny treatment to women your age because they produce fewer eggs, even with high doses of IVF drugs. When clinics do accept women in this age bracket, they accept only those who have FSH levels and other "ideal IVF candidate" criteria similar to younger women. As a result, conventional IVF clinics skew their success data higher for women in older age groups by selecting only "ideal IVF candidates." Unfortunately, this makes the SART data misleading for women 39 years of age and older. Many women denied conventional treatment turn to New Hope Fertility. Our One Good Egg Policy welcomes these women. Our success data often skews downwards because the eggs of women 39-plus years old are often of lower quality and are less likely to produce a live birth.
The "Ideal SART IVF Candidate": Skewing SART IVF Success Rates
A basic grounding in the variables affecting pregnancy success rates allows you to make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a fertility care provider. In fact, this knowledge can change how you view success rate data, either rendering it quite meaningful or quite meaningless to you. Some of the numerous scientific factors that influence the outcome of every woman's IVF treatment are FSH levels, age, the number of unsuccessful IVF attempts (or the number of unsuccessful natural attempts), ovarian reserve, stress, weight and BMI, structural or mechanical problems with her reproductive system, the age of the embryo at the time of transfer (Day 2, 3, 4 or blastocyst); and the number of eggs produced in a given cycle.
What is hidden from view in the SART data is the number of women who were denied treatment because one or more of the above-mentioned factors were unsatisfactory. For example, many clinics will not accept women older than 39 with FSH levels above 15, or women anticipated to make less than two eggs in each cycle. If you have unsatisfactory metrics for any of the above issues, the SART data may be a meaningless guide to gauge what you can expect, since it largely represents women with the "best" fertility health.
Also, remember SART only measures success of conventional IVF, not Natural Cycle and Mini-IVFTM treatments or single-embryo transfers. That is an unfortunate drawback of reporting success data (for the industry and the consumer) because many clinics select only ideal candidates to skew their success rate data higher. In addition, clinics also cancel cycles for women who have been accepted into the IVF program and these cancellation rates (cycles cancelled before egg retrieval) are high at eight to 19 percent.
Our One Good Egg Policy is patient-friendly, FSH-friendly and age-friendly. It does not include strict criteria designed to limit care or boost our success data. We know that taking on very difficult infertility cases can lower our success rate data, but we are committed to providing treatment to all those who seek it, regardless of the difficulty of their case.
We will be posting new statistics soon. We apologize for the inconvenience.
