International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies world report: assisted reproductive technology, 2019.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Retrospective cross-sectional registry survey
PubMed 40513636 · doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2025.06.003
What was done
The International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ICMART) conducted a retrospective cross-sectional survey compiling cycle and pregnancy outcome data from national and regional registries to evaluate global assisted reproductive technology (ART) utilization, effectiveness, and safety in 2019.
What was found
A total of 3,544,683 cycles and 783,073 infants were reported (estimated at >=3,855,694 cycles and >865,914 infants including nonreporting clinics), an approximate 8% increase from 2018. Autologous frozen-thawed transfers accounted for 61.8% of all autologous non-preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) transfers (up from 14.8% in 2015), and freeze-all cycles rose to 38.4% (up from 24.6% in 2015). PGT was utilized in 233,833 cycles across 44 countries (6.6% of reported cycles vs. 2.6% in 2015). The delivery rate per autologous oocyte aspiration was 22.9%, with a cumulative delivery rate of 38.6% per aspiration (excluding PGT). Per transfer, delivery rates were 31.3% for fresh autologous, 31.9% for frozen autologous, 48.7% for PGT, and 34.6% for oocyte donation. Single-embryo transfer proportions were 55.6% for fresh autologous (mean 1.51 embryos; multiple delivery rate 17.7%) and 74.1% for frozen-thawed autologous cycles (mean 1.26 embryos; multiple delivery rate 13.0%). Multiple delivery rates were 10.8% for oocyte donation and 4.2% for PGT.
Why it matters
This report provides the primary global surveillance benchmark for ART practice, documenting increasing adoption of elective single embryo transfer and embryo cryopreservation alongside declining multiple births prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Limits
The dataset relies on voluntary aggregate reporting from regional and national registries, resulting in missing data from non-reporting clinics. Patient-level confounders, detailed maternal-fetal morbidity, and long-term offspring outcomes were not reported in the abstract.
Cited by
- context Approximately 17 million babies worldwide have been born through in vitro fertilization (IVF).