History of ART Surveillance

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has been used for several decades to help couples and individuals conceive a child. ART is a term that describes all fertility treatments that involve handling eggs and sperm outside the body. The most commonly used ART treatments are in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and cryopreservation of embryos and oocytes. In the United States, ART surveillance has been essential in monitoring the safety and effectiveness of ART procedures.

The CDC requires that all ART clinics in the United States report their ART procedures and outcomes to the NASS. The data collected includes information on the number of ART cycles performed, the number of live births resulting from ART procedures, and other important information, such as the woman’s age, the cause of infertility, and the type of ART procedure used.

The following is a timeline of important events.

1978 - First IVF Birth

The first IVF birth in the world was reported in England.

1978 - First US IVF Baby Born

The first IVF birth in the United States was reported.

1986 - SART established

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) was established in the early 1980’s and began to collect data from its member clinics in 1986.

1992 - SART established

The FTC intervened in a case of false advertising by a fertility clinic. As a result, the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992 FCSRCA, Section 2(a) of P.L. 102–493 (42 U.S.C. 263a-1(a)) was passed, which mandated that CDC collect information yearly about ART cycles performed at clinics in the United States.

1997 - FCSRCA

CDC collaborated with SART to publish the first ART Success Rates Report to describe ART procedures performed in 1995.

2001 - SMART

CDC began linking ART data with state surveillance data, which later developed into the States Monitoring ART (SMART) Collaborative.

2002 - First CDC ART Study published

CDC published the first ART Surveillance Summary in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report MMWR, which reports ART use and outcomes by state.

2004 - First CDC ART Study published

CDC started development on the National ART Surveillance System (NASS). This builds on previous data collection systems and implements CDC model standards for surveillance.