Infertility in Asian Populations

A study performed in 2007 at the University of San Francisco has shown that the Asian population does poorly with In Vitro Fertilization, showing significantly lower pregnancy rates compared to similar Caucasian patients.

Analyzing national and clinic-specific data, researchers in San Francisco and Wichita have determined that Asian women undergoing IVF have significantly fewer clinical pregnancies and live births than Caucasian women do.

Both national data from the CDC’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Registry and data from the clinic at the University of California, San Francisco were analyzed. Nationally 26.9 % of first cycles in Asian patients resulted in a live birth while 34.9% of Caucasians’ first cycles resulted in a live birth. At UCSF, 28.6% of Asians’ first cycles resulted in a delivery and 37.5% of Caucasian patients delivered after their first cycle of ART.

Our high success rates with Asian women is due to our extensive research. Call us today to learn more.

The national registry contained data was collected in 1999 and 2000 by CDC and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology and included 25,843 Caucasian and 1,429 Asian patients who reported they were undergoing their first ART treatment. The other data set came from an academic clinic with a particularly high concentration of Asian patients- of the 567 patients whose first cycle data was included, 197 reported Asian ancestry.

The discrepancy could not be accounted for by differences in diagnoses of infertility or by patient characteristics such as age, hormone levels or number of embryos produced.

(Purcell et al, Asian ethnicity is associated with reduced pregnancy outcomes after assisted reproductive technology, Fertility and Sterility, Volume 86, Number 5, November 2006)