Assisted reproductive technology in Australia and New Zealand 2014

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is a group of procedures that involve the in vitro (outside of body) handling of human oocytes (eggs) and sperm or embryos for the purposes of establishing a pregnancy. Each ART treatment involves a number of stages and is generally referred to as an ART treatment cycle. The embryos transferred to a women can either originate from the cycle in which they were created (fresh cycle) or be frozen and thawed before transfer (thaw cycle).

There were 73,598 ART treatment cycles reported from Australian and New Zealand clinics in 2014 (67,707 and 5,891 respectively) representing a 2.4% increase in Australia and 9.6% increase in New Zealand on 2013. This represented 13.9 cycles per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15–44 years) in Australia, compared with 6.5 cycles per 1,000 women of reproductive age in New Zealand. Women used their own oocytes or embryos (autologous cycles) in 94.6% of treatments. Embryos that had been frozen and thawed where used in 37.4% of autologous cycles.

There were 37,281 women who undertook 69,638 autologous fresh and/or thaw cycles in Australia and New Zealand in 2014. On average, 1.8 fresh and/or thaw cycles per woman were undertaken in 2014, with more cycles per woman in Australia (1.9 cycles per woman) than in New Zealand (1.5 cycles per woman).The number of cycles where embryos were selected using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) increased from 2,740 in 2013 to 3,448 in 2014 (25.8% increase)

Over the last five years there has been an increasing trend in the proportion of cycles where all oocytes or embryos are cryopreserved for potential future use (freeze-all cycles) from 4.1% of initiated fresh cycles in 2010 to 13.0% of initiated fresh cycles in 2014. This practice reduces the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)in some patients, is often used in conjunction with PGD and fertility preservation, and is a deliberate treatment option used by some clinicians.