"Test Tube" Births Record High

Over 60,000 "test tube" babies were born in 2012, setting an all-time record for successful in-vitro fertilization (IVF) births, according to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART).

According to the SART database -- which has not yet fully compiled the numbers for 2013 births -- the record setting number for 2012 is a result of over 165,000 in-vitro fertilization procedures performed at 379 SART-accredited clinics.

This record setting statistic has over 2,000 more IVF births than the 2011 numbers, indicating a significant increase use of the IVF process in the United States. According to SART, IVF births account for 1.5 percent of all U.S. births annually.

Interestingly, the data also indicates that the average age among women who give birth for the first time is now 26 years old. That's five years older than the average birthing rate in the U.S. during 1970. This would imply that modern women tend to want to have children later in life. Unfortunately, the longer a woman waits, the more complications she may face when trying to become pregnant.

Which, of course, is where the IVF process comes in. In-vitro fertilization is an assisted reproductive technique that fertilizes the human egg from a mother or donor in a lab and then is put back into the mother's womb to grow into a healthy infant.

However, there are still many risks to this procedure. Because the fertilization occurs in a lab, there is always a chance of contamination. Another risk simply comes with the nature of the human body itself. It is very possible that the fertilized egg will not be accepted after it is introduced into the intended mother's body. Rejection is the most common cause of failed IVF procedures.

The data also implies that for women past the age of 35, the chance of the procedure being successful drops nearly ten-fold, somewhat defeating the purpose of a procedure that caters to mostly to older women who still want to have a child.

This report was based on IVF data for 2012 collected by SART-associated assisted pregnancy clinics in the U.S.

© MD News Daily.