Asian and black women who undergo in vitro fertilization have lower rates of success than white or Hispanic women, according to two studies presented on Monday at the annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine convention in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Dr. David Grainger, an infertility specialist at the University of Kansas-Wichita, and colleagues analyzed IVF clinic records between 1999 and 2000 for more than 75,000 patients whose race and Hispanic origin were reported (McCullough, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/19). The average live birth rate among all women who underwent IVF using eggs that had not been previously frozen was 25.7%. However, black and Asian women had lower birthrates -- 18.7% and 20.7%, respectively -- than white and Hispanic women -- 26.3% and 26.7%, respectively, Reuters Health reports. In addition, black women had the highest rate of miscarriage -- 22% -- compared with 13.9% for white women, 16.4% for Hispanic women and 16.2% for Asian women. The reason for lower success rates for Asian women is unclear because Asian women do not have high smoking or overweight rates, according to Reuters Health. However, the researchers speculated that the increased rate of overweight and fibroid and uterine disease among black women might contribute to lower IVF success rates among black women, according to Reuters Health (Kerr, Reuters Health, 10/18).

Second Study
In a second study, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco who analyzed 1,200 IVF attempts at their own clinic, 27% of which were among Asian patients, found that Asian women had lower pregnancy rates than non-Asians whether the implanted embryos were fresh or frozen, the Inquirer reports. "Being 35 and Asian was equivalent to being 40 and white," UCSF researcher Karen Purcell said, adding that they did not know why this was true (Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/19).