More than 2% of babies born in some European countries are now the result of assisted reproductive technology. But there is an almost 20-fold variation in the proportion of babies born by such techniques in Europe, a review has found. Denmark has the highest proportion, at 3.9% of all births in 2001, and Latvia has the lowest, at 0.2% (International Journal of Andrology 2006;29:12-16).
The average number of treatments per million inhabitants in 2001was 829, but this varied from 49 to 1923, with the United Kingdom the second lowest at 591.
The authors of the review looked at assisted reproduction rates across Europe. One of the main aims was to show that the decline in birth rates in Europe would have been greater without the contribution of fertility technology.
In 2001, there were 12 countries where all clinics reported to a national register, and, in all but one of those countries, it was possible to calculate the number of children born after in vitro techniques.
The authors say that data on assisted reproductive technology are generally restricted to treatments involving in vitro techniques because some other techniques, such as intrauterine insemination, are not consistently recorded.
The percentage of babies born by in vitro fertilisation was high in Nordic countries: Denmark 3.9%, Sweden 2.8%, Iceland 2.8%, Finland 2.4%, and Norway 2.2%. It was high too in Slovenia (3.2%). In the UK and Belgium, the figures were lower at 1.3% and 1.5%. The 2001 data from France were not available, but the 2000 figure was 1.4%
“In Denmark, with liberal access to fertility treatments, the proportion of infants born after either the in vitro techniques or after intrauterine inseminations comprised 6.2% of all newborns in 2002,” say the authors, from Copenhagen University Hospital and Odense University Hospital.
The average number of treatment cycles per million inhabitants was 829, with a range from 49 in Latvia to 1923 in Denmark. Finland, with 1538 cycles, was second, followed by Iceland, with 1190, and Belgium, with 1177. The UK was the second lowest, with 591 cycles, followed by Hungary, with 616, and Switzerland, with 679. The report also shows that assisted reproduction is growing at an annual rate of about 2-3% in 1997-2001.
The authors say that Denmark is the only country with an established national reporting system for all assisted reproductive technology treatments, including in vitro techniques and intrauterine inseminations. And they say that better recording systems are needed in other countries: “There is a need in Europe to establish national, compulsory registers on all assisted reproductive technology activity and to improve the quality of data, specifically in relation to a better follow-up of all established pregnancies.”