In vitro fertilization (IVF) births totaled 10,236 in 2018, a record and an increase of 646 from a year earlier, National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) data showed.
With 180,656 babies born in 2018, about one in every 18 liveborn infants was from the IVF procedure, the data showed.
Taiwanese Society for Reproductive Medicine executive council member Chen Hsin-fu (陳信孚), who is a physician at National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that the situation in Taiwan is similar to the global trend.
Former society director Lee Hsin-yang (李新揚), who is superintendent of Usoon Fertility Center, said that IVF babies are as healthy as naturally conceived babies, so couples who are having fertility issues should seek medical advice as early as possible.
IVF combines sperm and an ovum outside the body, with resulting zygotes placed in the uterus to facilitate pregnancy.
As more people are getting married later and more women are working, the average age of mothers giving birth for the first time has risen from 29.83 in 2008 to 32.12 last year, with more than one-third aged 35 or older.
The average age of women who received IVF treatment was 32.7 in 1998, rising to 37.3 in 2018, with most of the women being about 35 years old, the NHIA data showed.
Pregnancy and live birth rates decrease with increasing age of the woman. About 25 percent of women who undergo IVF give birth successfully if the recipient is 34 years old, but the rate drops to about 10 percent if the recipient is 40 or older, the data showed.
Ovarian problems are the cause in more than 30 percent of female infertility cases.
There were 2,317 live-born IVF children in 1998, increasing to more than 10,236 in 2018, with the sex ratio being 109 males per 100 females, the data showed.
More than 70 percent were single pregnancies, the data showed.
Chen Li-chuan (陳麗娟), director of the Health Promotion Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Division, said that couples who are trying to conceive should do so as early as possible, with the preferred age range being 25 to 35, while IVF treatment is best conducted before the woman is 34.
Young married couples should do fertility planning, Chen Li-chuan said, adding that if they are not able to get pregnant within a year, they might have a fertility issue, which might be because of the man or the woman, so “they should seek medical attention together.”
Meanwhile, data from the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee showed that more than 80 percent of women aged 30 to 39 were working last year, so oocyte cryopreservation has become more common.
As the freezing technology has improved, there is a rising trend of women undergoing the procedure, Chen Hsin-fu said.
The procedure is best done before the woman reaches 35 years old, but it is not recommended for women under 30 years old, unless they have a family history of premature ovarian failure or are about to undergo chemotherapy, he said.
Tri-Service General Hospital Gynecology and Obstetrics Department physician Liu Yung-liang (劉勇良) said that fertility rates from oocyte cryopreservation depend on the age of the woman as well as her health.
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