“IVF isn’t fun. I don’t think anyone wants to do it. But when the result is a beautiful girl like Mia, I would do it again in a heartbeat.” Those are the words of Laura Albrey, the mother of 15-month-old Mia, who was born as a result of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
“We had been trying for a few years and had no success, so we did a lot of tests and came back with nothing,” Albrey told 1News.
“With the clock ticking, we decided to go down the IVF route and we were really fortunate and had Mia on our first round.”
Her luck is reflected in new research by the University of New South Wales, which has found one-in-three women are successful in having a baby in their first IVF cycle.
It also shows at least 53.6% of women had a chance of having a live birth after three cycles of treatment.
The figures in the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in Australia and New Zealand report are from 2021, the most recent year with complete data.
"It’s a combination of technology, clinical care and we are also seeing more patients being aware of IVF,” report author Professor Georgina Chambers said.
“It’s now a mainstream medical intervention for infertility and so they are more prepared to seek help earlier.”
The report found there were a record-high number of births via ART in 2021, with more than 20,000 babies born in Australia and New Zealand, a 12% increase from 2020.
It also shed new light on the number of women freezing their eggs, with a 61.5% spike and a higher success rate with frozen embryos.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of couples or clients seeking fertility treatment,” Repromed Medical Director Devashana Gupta said.
“We have also seen an improvement in technology. Vitrification, how we freeze embryos, gives us better survival of the embryos. We also do genetic testing of embryos, which improves the chance of a live birth by almost double.”
Gupta says the waitlist for publicly funded IVF remains one to two years, but while private treatment is expensive, since the Covid-19 pandemic more people are seeking it.
“It is possible it’s because of education and awareness. A female age is crucial for fertility but also a male age as well,” Gupta said.
The report highlighted male infertility affected one in three cycles, and that 74% of that couldn't be explained.
"We don't totally know what causes it, but it looks like many factors like disruptors in our environment like plastics and other lifestyle factors that impact sperm quality and quantity," Chambers said.
For Albrey, since becoming a mother to an IVF baby she has met many others who have had a similar journey.
"With science improving and the chances of it being successful higher, more people are going to do it. So I think having that awareness helps."
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