Resources on in Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Statistics
When you're dreams of starting your own family naturally are cut short by infertility, you may have to resort to in vitro fertilization to keep your dreams alive.
However, IVF can cost a couple around $12,000 per cycle and can take multiple cycles before a successful birth.
Before you go into it, you should really know what to expect and a great way to get the facts right is through statistics.
However, even though success rates and statistics for IVF procedures are readily available online, getting through all the numbers and making sense of the data can be a bit tricky.
Here are some tips on where to begin.
Let's start with how to get the statistics.
As mentioned above, the statistics and success rates for most clinics are readily available on line.
If you are a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of sifting through the hundreds of IVF provider's websites, a great place to start is the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) website.
The site is already geared for the patient and is designed to easily accommodate your statistical needs.
The opening page already leads you to the IVF success rate reports from both the national and clinical levels of all their member clinics (which numbers at 392, accounting for 85% of all the ART clinics nationwide according to their website).
The clinical level reports are divided per state, making it easier for you to localize your search.
Included in the reports are the basic need-to-know stats and the contact data of their affiliate clinics.
Another great resource for data is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website which has a downloadable PDF file of their Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Report, a comprehensive report on the IVF treatment providers in the US (the most current report is dated 2007, released in 2009).
Although the CDC report is definitely more comprehensive, it also takes more time for them to consolidate their reports and may take more than a year to release.
The SART website offers faster updates on their numbers (their current report goes up to 2008).
With the ease of access to the numbers, it may be tempting to just go right ahead and compare the success rates of potential clinics and pick the one with the highest rate, but the CDC advises a more cautious approach.
To start, success rates are a tricky number as they can be influenced by factors that do not show up in the stat sheet.
For example, some clinics, according to the CDC 2007 ART report, accept and treat all patients interested in IVF treatment, even those with lower chances of success, while others will have more stringent requirements to keep their success rates up.
The clinics that take in more patients will suffer statistically but that is not a real objective description of the quality of their work.
The CDC advises to use the stat report in correlation with direct contact with the clinics.
Talking to them about their report can clear up many of your questions.
Both the CDC and SART give great tools to help you with the numbers.
The CDC's ART report has a great guide (pages 81-90 on fertility tables) to help you better understand the terms and figures.
The SART website offers many helpful features in showing you the numbers that you need.
SART success rates can be organized by the cause of infertility; giving you an idea of the chances of success should you or your loved one be afflicted by a similar type of infertility.
For example, on the national level, the success rate for live births for all SART member clinics in 2008 was 41.
3% of all attempted cycles for all diagnosed cases.
But the numbers for cases diagnosed solely on male factors for infertility rises to 44.
4%.
With the proper resources, the numbers are steadily growing in your favor.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, though.
The actual task of analyzing the stats and further research are still ahead, not to mention the actual process of IVF itself.
But if it means getting your own family, then it may all be well worth it.
However, IVF can cost a couple around $12,000 per cycle and can take multiple cycles before a successful birth.
Before you go into it, you should really know what to expect and a great way to get the facts right is through statistics.
However, even though success rates and statistics for IVF procedures are readily available online, getting through all the numbers and making sense of the data can be a bit tricky.
Here are some tips on where to begin.
Let's start with how to get the statistics.
As mentioned above, the statistics and success rates for most clinics are readily available on line.
If you are a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of sifting through the hundreds of IVF provider's websites, a great place to start is the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) website.
The site is already geared for the patient and is designed to easily accommodate your statistical needs.
The opening page already leads you to the IVF success rate reports from both the national and clinical levels of all their member clinics (which numbers at 392, accounting for 85% of all the ART clinics nationwide according to their website).
The clinical level reports are divided per state, making it easier for you to localize your search.
Included in the reports are the basic need-to-know stats and the contact data of their affiliate clinics.
Another great resource for data is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website which has a downloadable PDF file of their Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Report, a comprehensive report on the IVF treatment providers in the US (the most current report is dated 2007, released in 2009).
Although the CDC report is definitely more comprehensive, it also takes more time for them to consolidate their reports and may take more than a year to release.
The SART website offers faster updates on their numbers (their current report goes up to 2008).
With the ease of access to the numbers, it may be tempting to just go right ahead and compare the success rates of potential clinics and pick the one with the highest rate, but the CDC advises a more cautious approach.
To start, success rates are a tricky number as they can be influenced by factors that do not show up in the stat sheet.
For example, some clinics, according to the CDC 2007 ART report, accept and treat all patients interested in IVF treatment, even those with lower chances of success, while others will have more stringent requirements to keep their success rates up.
The clinics that take in more patients will suffer statistically but that is not a real objective description of the quality of their work.
The CDC advises to use the stat report in correlation with direct contact with the clinics.
Talking to them about their report can clear up many of your questions.
Both the CDC and SART give great tools to help you with the numbers.
The CDC's ART report has a great guide (pages 81-90 on fertility tables) to help you better understand the terms and figures.
The SART website offers many helpful features in showing you the numbers that you need.
SART success rates can be organized by the cause of infertility; giving you an idea of the chances of success should you or your loved one be afflicted by a similar type of infertility.
For example, on the national level, the success rate for live births for all SART member clinics in 2008 was 41.
3% of all attempted cycles for all diagnosed cases.
But the numbers for cases diagnosed solely on male factors for infertility rises to 44.
4%.
With the proper resources, the numbers are steadily growing in your favor.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, though.
The actual task of analyzing the stats and further research are still ahead, not to mention the actual process of IVF itself.
But if it means getting your own family, then it may all be well worth it.
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