Rise in IVF success rates

A British newspaper has discovered that IVF success rates are rising. The Sunday Times newspaper conducted its own survey of 35 of the 74 IVF clinics in the UK and has found that in the year 2000-2001, women of all ages have, on average, a 29 per cent chance of having a healthy baby after using IVF. For women aged under 38-years old, there is a 33.3 per cent chance.

Official figures to be released by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) this week are expected to confirm these findings. They will show that women undergoing IVF treatment are now as likely to conceive and have a healthy baby as fertile couples in their late twenties.

The results, from all IVF clinics in the UK, are expected to show that there is now a one-in-four chance of successful fertility treatment, up from about one-in-five two years ago. This is about the same probability of a couple conceiving a child 'if they make love at the right time of the month', reports the Sunday Times.