Assisted reproductive technology in Japan: A summary report for 2020 by the Ethics Committee of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Yukiko Katagiri; Seung Chik Jwa; Akira Kuwahara; Takeshi Iwasa; Masanori Ono; Keiichi Kato; Hiroshi Kishi; Yoshimitsu Kuwabara; Miyuki Harada; Toshio Hamatani; Yutaka Osuga

doi:10.1002/rmb2.12494

Assisted Reproduction · Registries and Reporting

Assisted reproductive technology in Japan: A summary report for 2020 by the Ethics Committee of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Katagiri Y, Jwa SC, Kuwahara A, Iwasa T, Ono M, Kato K, Kishi H, Kuwabara Y, Harada M, Hamatani T, Osuga Y

Reprod Med Biol, 2023

DOI 10.1002/rmb2.12494 PMID 36618448 PMC PMC9811980

RRM Academy Synopsis

Japan recorded 60 381 ART births from 449 900 cycles in 2020

Japan's ART registry recorded 449 900 cycles and 60 381 births in 2020. Cycles fell 1.79% and births fell 0.36% from 2019, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is a descriptive annual analysis of national registry data from 621 of 622 registered facilities.

Key Findings

Frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles numbered 215 285 in 2020, an increase of 0.04% from 2019, after an increase of 5.8% from 2018 to 2019.
Freeze-all cycles accounted for 130 227 (56.3%) of the 231 368 cycles that reached oocyte retrieval.
Registered IVF cycles decreased by 5.9% and ICSI cycles by 2.0% from 2019; the 2282 neonates born after IVF-ET and 2596 after ICSI represented decreases of 23.3% and 24.3%.
Live birth rates per transfer were 16.7% for fresh IVF and 25.5% for frozen transfers, and single embryo transfer made up 81.6% of fresh and 85.1% of frozen–thawed transfers.
Women aged 40 years or over accounted for 40.1% of registered cycles.

Interpretation

The report is a descriptive national registry analysis of ART cycles in 2020, compared with 2019 and without statistical testing. Designated facilities must report, and they use standard definitions. Data were collected per cycle, so the registry cannot show whether one person had several cycles. The authors note that much background information is missing, including body mass index, parity and husband's age, and that relevant patient conditions will be collected from January 2022. They also suggest that COVID-19 delays and cancellations may have lowered the 2020 counts.

RRM Context

Restorative reproductive medicine (RRM) starts from the principle that infertility is a symptom with a diagnosable cause in one or both partners. Its clinicians look for that cause before any intervention. The report notes that Japan has the highest utilization rate of ART and that its total fertility rate has decreased over the past four decades, to 1.33 in 2020.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

Purpose

Since 1986, the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology assisted reproductive technology (ART) registry system has collected data on national ART use and outcomes trends in Japan. Herein, we describe the characteristics and outcomes of ART cycles registered during 2020 and compare the results with those from 2019.

Methods and Results

In 2020, 621 ART facilities participated in the registration. The total number of registered cycles was 449 900, and there were 60 381 live births, which decreased from the previous year (1.79% and 0.36% decrease, respectively). The number of freeze-all in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles increased in 2020, and the number of neonates born was 2282 for IVF-embryo transfer (ET) cycles and 2596 for ICSI cycles, which had decreased from the previous year. Frozen-thawed ET (FET) cycles had slightly increased from 2019 (0.04%). In 2020, 215 285 FET cycles were conducted, resulting in 76 196 pregnancies and 55 503 neonates. Single ET was performed in 81.6% of fresh transfers and 85.1% of frozen-thawed cycles, respectively, resulting in over 97% singleton pregnancies/livebirths rates.

Conclusion

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, the overall number of ART cycles and neonates born demonstrated only a slight decrease in 2020 compared with 2019.

Topics

Assisted Reproduction Registries and Reporting National Registry Data

Assisted Reproduction › Registries and Reporting › National Registry Data

Yukiko Katagiri, Seung Chik Jwa, Akira Kuwahara, Takeshi Iwasa, Masanori Ono, Keiichi Kato, Hiroshi Kishi, Yoshimitsu Kuwabara, Miyuki Harada, Toshio Hamatani, Yutaka Osuga

Y Katagiri, S Jwa, A Kuwahara, T Iwasa, M Ono, K Kato, H Kishi, Y Kuwabara, M Harada, T Hamatani, Y Osuga

PMID 36618448 36618448 DOI 10.1002/rmb2.12494 10.1002/rmb2.12494 Katagiri et al. 2023, Katagiri 2023

Assisted reproductive technology in Japan: A summary report for 2020 by the Ethics Committee of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Japan recorded 60 381 ART births from 449 900 cycles in 2020

Key Findings

Interpretation

RRM Context

Abstract

Topics

By this author

Related research