Assisted Reproduction · Registries and Reporting
RRM Academy Synopsis
UK IVF birth rates were typically lower for Black patients
A UK register report on IVF from 2014 to 2018 found that Black patients typically had lower IVF birth rates than White and Mixed patients. Among patients aged 30 to 34, average birth rates per embryo transferred were 23 out of 100 for Black patients and 30 out of 100 for Mixed and White patients.
Key Findings
- Among patients aged 30-34, the average birth rate per embryo transferred was 23% for Black patients and 30% for Mixed and White patients, from 2014-2018.
- In 2018, the average age at which Black patients started IVF was 36.4, against a national average of 34.6.
- Black patients had a 14% multiple birth rate, against a 12% average, and 46% of their cycles used multiple embryo transfer, against 38% for White patients.
- Tubal factor infertility made up 31% of patient-based infertility among Black patients, against an 18% average, in 2014-2018.
- From 2014-2018, 4% of registered egg donors and 5% of registered sperm donors were Asian. In 2018, 14% of IVF patients and 7% of the UK population were Asian.
Interpretation
The UK fertility regulator compared patients in five broad ethnic categories, using its national register of treatment cycles. Its birth rate comparison by age uses cycles with the patient's own eggs. The register holds no data on socioeconomic status, BMI or smoking status, and about 12% of recorded patients in 2018 had no ethnicity entered and were left out. The authors state that the reasons for the gaps are uncertain and that the report does not look directly at discrimination. The report states the differences were consistent across other birth and pregnancy rate measures.
RRM Context
The register lists tubal disease and ovulatory disorder as types of infertility. It lists patient unexplained infertility at 51% on average. Restorative reproductive medicine treats unexplained infertility as undiagnosed. IVF bypasses these conditions and leaves open why conception fails. Cause-based care looks for the root cause in both partners. The report notes that male infertility was similar across ethnic groups.
Abstract
Ethnic diversity in fertility treatment 2018 presents UK ethnicity statistics for IVF and donor insemination (DI) fertility treatment and looks at how access to, and outcomes of, fertility treatment differed by ethnic group. The report uses five aggregated ethnic categories (Asian, Black, Mixed, Other and White) and combines up to five years of data where single-year numbers are too small. The report highlights disparities by ethnic group from 2014-18 in access to and outcomes of fertility treatment, and sets out actions for the HFEA, for clinics and for others. The report states that ethnic comparisons are limited by the data held on the Register, and that ethnicity was not recorded for about 12% of recorded patients in 2018.
