Number of women on fertility treatment highest ever

Published on Wednesday 15 April 2009 22:01

MORE women than ever before are undergoing fertility treatment in the UK, new figures revealed yesterday.

Data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) showed 36,648 women underwent fertility treatment in 2007 – a rise of 5 per cent on the 34,855 in 2006.

In total, they received 46,502 cycles of fertility treatment.

The figures reveal a dramatic rise in the number of women opting for treatment compared with the early 1990s.

In 1992, just 14,057 women had fertility treatment and were aged 33 on average. Now, more than twice that number undergo treatment.

Women are also now older when having IVF, with an average age of 36 in 2007.

No data is available yet for the number of babies born to women receiving fertility treatment in 2007.

But newly issued figures for 2006 showed 12,589 babies were born as a result of treatment – namely IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), where the sperm is injected directly into the egg.

This number of babies is up almost 12 per cent on the 11,268 born in 2005.

Professor Lisa Jardine, chair of the HFEA, said it had launched a new website to help people choose the right treatment.

She added: "There are a variety of reasons why more people are having fertility treatment.

"Availability of treatment has increased alongside people's raised awareness of possible problems with reproduction. There is also some evidence that infertility may itself be a growing problem.

"When we started regulating the fertility sector, the types of treatment available were extremely limited, as was people's access to it. So, for many people treatment simply wouldn't have been an option. However, times change and technologies continue to develop."