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Tenfold increase in IVF for over-40s
Last updated at 07:52am on 06.06.07
Half of births are now to mothers aged over 30
The number of women over 40 having IVF treatment has soared despite concerns over the possible health risks to mother and baby.
Over the past 15 years, the number of cycles of the fertility treatment given to women aged between 40 and 45 has increased more than tenfold.
The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, which released the figures yesterday, expressed concern over the marked increase in older women undergoing IVF.
It said too few women were aware that the chances of success decline dramatically after the age of 40 and the rates of miscarriage increase.
Many women delay IVF treatment so as not to have their careers interrupted by a baby or because they wait to find the right partner.
National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence guidelines say that in most cases women over 40 should not be given IVF on the NHS because of the poor chance of success.
This means that the vast majority of women in their 40s who try IVF pay privately, at around £4,000 to £8,000 per cycle.
Angela McNab, chief executive of the HFEA, said: "It is a matter of concern and it may well be that one of the messages we need to concentrate on is reminding people of the biological clock and the difficulties of achieving pregnancy after you are 40.
"It is inevitable that women over 40 are largely bearing the cost of that themselves and we are seeing an increase in women seeking help. We can see that many women are delaying having their families."
In 1991, when the HFEA was established, there were 596 non-donor cycles of IVF treatment given to women aged between 40 and 45, representing 9.2 per cent of the total.
In 2006, there were 6,174 cycles, 15.5 per cent of the total. The biggest rise has been in the last six years, from 10.7 per cent of all cycles in 2000 to 15.5 per cent.
Over the period, the average age of all patients having IVF has gone up from 34 to
35. Success rates for all ages have risen between 1991 and 2004, up from 14 per cent to 21 per cent.
But for women aged 40 the rise has been far less dramatic. Last year only around 12 per cent had a successful pregnancy with IVF. For those aged 44 the success rate is less than 3 per cent.
Dr David Tells, the HFEA's information director, said: "The message we need to get across is that it is kind of impossible to beat nature.
"The influence that clinicians have to affect success rates declines as age increases."
Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services, said: "Women think that 40 is the new 30. Today's women look so young and think so young that they simply can't accept that their reproductive system is not going to be young as well.
"Some people see IVF as a technological solution to a biological problem. But around 40 per cent of pregnancies in women age 40 end in miscarriage and that figure rises to around 75 per cent in women aged 45."
She said IVF clinics had to try harder to stamp out the "fiction that if a woman works out in a gym and uses Botox, then her ovaries are also going to have another decade in them".
Studies suggest that women over 40 have a higher risk of giving birth to an underweight baby and are more likely to have a Caesarean section.
Reader views (1)
The NHS was set up to cover medical expenses for all, not to cover the cost of lifestyle choices. IVF should only be available on the NHS to those who have been trying to conceive, with a proven medically documented history, for several years and before reaching 40. If a woman delays having children to further a career then she should pay privately.
- Jane, London
