Frozen embryos result in just as many live births in IVF

via hindustantimes.com

"Freezing and subsequent transfer of embryos gives infertile couples just as much of a chance of having a child as using fresh embryos for in vitro fertilization (IVF), research from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Adelaide, Australia has found.

In results to be published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine, the research team shows that ongoing pregnancy rates and live births were equivalent in a group of IVF women implanted with frozen embryos compared with fresh embryos.

"Frozen embryo techniques are growing in popularity in fertility clinics worldwide. This is one of the reasons why our research is important for fertility clinicians and researchers, and of course couples who are hoping to have a child," says lead author Dr Lan N. Vuong from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, and My Duc Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City.

Dr Vuong's work was conducted in collaboration with Professor Ben Mol, from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute, a member of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute's Healthy Mothers, Babies and Children theme; and Professor Robert Norman, also from the Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide and a leading fertility unit, Fertility SA.

The study investigated almost 800 women who had infertility not related to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Women were given one cycle of IVF, where either a transfer of fresh embryos occurred, or all embryos were frozen and one cycle of thawed embryos occurred subsequently without the use of IVF drugs.

After the first completed cycle of IVF, ongoing pregnancy occurred in 36% of women in the frozen embryo group, and in 35% of the fresh embryo group.

Rates of live birth after the first embryo transfer were 34% in the frozen embryo group, and 32% in the fresh embryo group..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180110223410.htm

Flint's water crisis led to fewer babies and higher fetal death rates, researchers find

via huffingtonpost.com

"An estimated 275 fewer children were born in Flint, Michigan, while the city was using lead-contaminated water from the Flint River, according to findings by researchers from West Virginia University and the University of Kansas.

"We compared fertility rates in Flint to fertility rates in other big cities in Michigan and we found that, following the water change, fertility rates dropped substantially in Flint but did not change in other areas," said Daniel Grossman, assistant professor of economics at WVU's College of Business and Economics. "We also explored fetal death rates in Flint and found that they increased 58 percent following the water switch.

"This can only explain a small fraction of the overall change in fertility rates and we speculate that much of the results we find are likely due to an increase in miscarriages in Flint," he said.

Flint, once part of the Detroit area's legendary automobile manufacturing sector, has faced a major public health emergency due to lead poisoning since it temporarily changed its public water source to the Flint River in April 2014.

Although officials had seen serious health problems in Flint such as a wave of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in 2014 and 2015, no public warning was issued until early 2016. As a result, a number of Michigan officials now face criminal charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to misconduct in office to obstruction of justice.

The report said that "only the city of Flint switched their water source at this time, while the rest of Michigan did not. These areas provide a natural control group for Flint in that they are economically similar areas and, with the exception of the change in water supply, followed similar trends in fertility and birth outcomes over this time period..."

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170922091626.htm

 

Lowered birth rates one reason why women outlive men

Source:  Uppsala Universitet | Summary: Using unique demographic records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from the Utah Population Database (USA), a research team has come to the conclusion that lowered birth rates are one reason why women outlive men in today’s societies.

"Using unique demographic records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from the Utah Population Database (USA), a research team led from Uppsala University has come to the conclusion that lowered birth rates are one reason why women outlive men in today's societies. The study is published in Scientific Reports.

The causes underpinning sex differences in lifespan are hotly debated. While women commonly outlive men, this is generally less pronounced in societies before the demographic transition to low mortality and fertility rates.

Using unique longitudinal demographic records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from the Utah Population Database, USA, the research team shows that men who were born in the early to mid-1800s lived on average two years longer than women. This reversed over time and women born in the early 1900s outlived men by four years.

During this period, fertility in the population decreased from an average of 8.5 in the early 1800s to an average of 4.2 children per woman in the early 1900s. Female lifespan increased, while male lifespan remained largely stable, supporting the theory that differential costs of reproduction in the two sexes result in the shifting patterns of sex differences in lifespan across human populations..."

Read more here:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418092047.htm