Almost three-quarters of couples who seek in vitro fertilization end up with a child within the next ten years, either through IVF or alternative means, according to a study published in the journal Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire (Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin).
Researchers with the national French research institute INSERM recruited 6,507 couples who had first attempted IVF between 2000 and 2002. The researchers then followed up with a survey of these couples between 2008 and 2010.
Of the couples, 70 percent had become parents over the years since they first began trying. Of those, 41 percent were successful with IVF, while 19 percent chose to adopt, 18 percent managed to have a child through natural conception and 11 percent used fertility treatments that had been developed in the intervening years.
Although the path to parenthood is difficult and often heartbreaking for infertile couples, they should not give up hope, the researchers concluded. IVF is important, but it is not the only or final option for couples who are having trouble conceiving.