Impact of the spread of assisted reproductive technologies on selected aspects of natality trends in the Czech Republic
Abstract
Demographic reproduction changes, considering decreasing fertility rate and increasing age of mother at childbirth, can be observed for several decades in the Czech Republic. The combination of the continuous postponement of childbearing and declining fecundity with the age of women leads to an increase in number of women who seek for assisted reproductive treatment.
The proportion of children born by assisted reproductive technologies is around a not negligible level 3,5 % in the Czech Republic. Application of assisted reproductive technologies allows the realisation of fertility in infertile (subfertile) couples or allows the offset of decreasing fertility due to decreasing fecundity related to postponement of childbearing.
One of discussed consequence of spread of assisted reproductive technologies is sharp increase in proportion of multiple deliveries, which has been significantly shown in the Czech Republic. The importance of assisted reproductive technologies for the fertility level (of older women especially) grows continuously.
Conversely, the trend in increased proportion of multiple deliveries was probably stopped in the Czech Republic, in relation with an effort to reduce the number of transferred embryos over one assisted reproductive cycle.