For many people who want to start a family, the dream of having a
child is not easily realized; about 15% of women of childbearing age
in the United States have received an infertility service. Assisted
reproductive technology (ART) has been used in the United States
since 1981 to help women become pregnant, most commonly through the
transfer of fertilized human eggs into a woman’s uterus. However,
for many people, deciding whether to undergo this expensive and
time-consuming treatment can be difficult.
The goal of this report is to help
potential ART users make informed decisions about ART
by providing some of the information needed to answer the following questions:
- What are my chances of having a
child by using ART?
- Where can I go to get this
treatment?
The
Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART)*, an
organization of ART providers affiliated with the
American Society for Reproductive
Medicine (ASRM)*, has been collecting data and publishing annual
reports of pregnancy success rates for fertility clinics in the
United States and Canada since 1989. In 1992, the U.S. Congress
passed the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act. This
law requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to
publish pregnancy success rates for ART in fertility clinics in the
United States. Since 1995, CDC has worked in consultation with
SART* and
ASRM* to report ART success rates.
The 2001 report of pregnancy success
rates is the seventh to be issued under the law. This report is
based on the latest available data on the type, number, and outcome
of ART cycles performed in U.S. clinics.
The 2001 ART report has four major
sections:
- Commonly
asked questions about the U.S. ART clinic reporting system.
This section provides background information on infertility and
ART and an explanation of the data collection, analysis, and
publication processes.
- A
national report. The national report section presents
overall success rates and shows how they are affected by certain
patient and treatment characteristics. Because the national report
summarizes data from all 384 fertility clinics that reported, it
can give people considering ART a good idea of the average chance
of having a child by using ART.
-
Fertility clinic tables.
Success also is related to the expertise of a particular clinic’s
staff and the quality of its laboratory. The fertility clinic
table section displays ART results and success rates for
individual U.S. fertility clinics in 2001.
- Appendixes:
Appendix A contains technical
notes on the interpretation of 95% confidence intervals and
findings from the data validation visits to selected fertility
clinics.
Appendix B
(Glossary) provides definitions for technical and medical terms used
throughout the report.
Appendix
C includes the names and addresses of all reporting clinics
along with a list of clinics known to be in operation in 2001 that
did not report their success rate data to CDC as required by law.
Appendix D
includes the names and addresses of national consumer organizations
that offer support to people experiencing infertility.
Success rates can be reported in a
variety of ways, and the statistical aspects of these rates can be
difficult to interpret. As a result, presenting information about
ART success rates is a complex task. This report is intended for the
general public, and the emphasis is on presenting the information in
an easily understandable form. CDC hopes that this report is
informative and helpful to people considering an ART procedure. We
welcome any suggestions for improving the report and making it
easier to use.
|
* |
Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links. |
Previous ART Reports
Implementation of the Fertility
Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992
Assisted Reproductive Technology: Embryo
Laboratory
Date last reviewed:
03/23/2006
Content source: Division
of Reproductive Health,
National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion
