Assisted reproductive technology in Japan: a summary report of 1992-2014 by the Ethics Committee, Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology implemented a registry report system for the clinical practice of assisted reproductive technology in 1986. The aggregated results from 1992 to 2014 are reported herein.

The total number of registered treatments was 393 745 cycles, of which 66 550 were pregnancy cycles and 46 008 were cycles with a live birth. Compared to the number of registered treatments in 2008, when the cycle-based registry was newly introduced, there was a 2.07-fold increase in the total number of treatments and a 2.25-fold increase in the number of cycles with a live birth. As the average age of patients who receive assisted reproductive technology has become markedly higher year by year, the most common age of those patients who received assisted reproductive technology in 2014 was 40 years.

The total numbers of both assisted reproductive technology treatments and assisted reproductive technology live births are likely to be higher in the future. In addition, the trend toward aging patients seems to be continuing into the future.