Mouthpiece: Why we should expect number of IVF patients to keep rising

Published on Saturday 18 April 2009 11:24

More people with fertility problems can now get access to treatment, writes Professor Lisa Jardine

FIGURES just released by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority show that the number of women undergoing fertility treatment has doubled in the last 15 years. Now seems a good moment to ask ourselves why this is so.

Infertility is a complex matter which cannot readily be pinned down to specific factors. There are a variety of reasons why increasing numbers of people are seeking treatment.

For one thing, when HFEA began regulating the fertility sector in 1992, the idea that people could actually receive treatment which would allow them to have a longed-for child was new and controversial.

The types of treatment available were extremely limited, as was people's access to them. So, for many people treatment simply would not have been an option.

Today the situation is quite different. There are now clinics the length and breadth of the country, and IVF is seen as almost routine.

People are also now better informed and much more aware of possible problems with reproduction, particularly as they get older.

We know that infertility is on the rise, with one in seven couples today faced with fertility problems.

There is also evidence that infertility may be a growing problem for men. In 2007, nearly 25 per cent of the 46,000 treatment cycles carried out were in response to male factor infertility.

People are also leaving it later to have children, so they may be that much older when they discover they are not able to reproduce naturally. Over the last 15 years the average age of treatment has shifted from 33 to 36.

The question we might actually want to ask ourselves, in the light of the new figures, is why, almost two decades on, are the figures for fertility treatment not higher?

In the first year of regulation, more than 14,000 women received treatment. Currently, 36,000 couples are opting for treatment. Shouldn't the number be greater?

The fact is, although procedures such as IVF are more widely available and are seen by potential patients as more acceptable, over 80 per cent of people still receive their fertility treatment in private clinics.

Although on the increase, access to NHS treatment is fairly limited. So many couples may not be in a position to consider fertility treatment, simply on grounds of cost.

Over the coming years, as fertility treatment provision broadens, and comes to depend less on people's financial means, we are likely to see an even greater increase in numbers.

Professor Lisa Jardine is chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority