Updated U.K. Fertility Guidelines Will Widen Access To IVF Under National Health Service

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 24 Feb 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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The British government plans to expand eligibility for in vitro fertilization under the country's National Health Service to older women, smokers and women with a body mass index of more than 30 on a case-by-case basis, The Times of London reports. The new guidelines, to be published in June, will reinforce National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommendations made in 2004 that said women ages 23 to 39 should have access to three cycles of IVF, including the replacement of frozen embryos if a woman does not conceive with fresh embryos. In addition, the guidelines will recommend that physicians consider women for IVF treatment on a case-by-case basis and not automatically exclude women because of age, weight or smoking habits.

Currently, most women are excluded from eligibility for IVF if they have a BMI of more than 30. Many smokers also are refused treatment. Policies vary on enforcement of age limits, with some excluding women younger than age 30 and others allowing IVF up to age 36. Because of the restriction, about 75% of the nearly 45,000 cycles of IVF performed in Britain annually are privately funded. A Department of Health survey published in 2008 found that only nine out of 151 NHS providers in England met the recommended standard of providing a full three-cycle treatment of IVF to women ages 23 to 39, and three NHS providers did not offer IVF at all. Two-thirds provided only one cycle of treatment, half of which did not replace frozen embryos (Lister/Elliot, The Times of London, 2/20).

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