VIDEO | Decreased birth rate, Claudio Giorlandino: “The difficulty is economic”

A balance between medicine and welfare is what Claudio Giorlandino, director of the Altamedica scientific research institute, draws up at Dire

(SAY) Rome, 23 May. – “In the last 20 years, 200-250 thousand have been born with Pma (assisted fertilization). In the last 10 years there has been an increase of 80%, from 2005 to 2022 the numbers have almost doubled and have gone from 63 thousand treatments up to 109,775.

One cause is the advancing female age of motherhood (average age 37 years) and the techniques that have improved and reduced the risk of twinning. In Italy most of the centers are private, the public ones are capable, but they have enormous organizational difficulties, perhaps partly remedied by the introduction of PMA in the LEAs, but they are expensive techniques and the regions must then have the funding”.

It is a balance between medicine and welfare that Claudio Giorlandino, director of the Altamedica scientific research institute, draws on 20 years of assisted fertilization techniques at Dire: how they have helped Italians to become mothers and fathers, but also the difficulties, the frustrations, the portrait of this desire in a generation suffocated by an entirely social and economic crisis.

Pay attention, recommends the expert, to the ‘amazing’ percentages: “In 2022, out of 109 thousand stimulation techniques – Giorlandino recalled – there were 16 thousand pregnancies. We are therefore talking about 85% who must repeat the process”.

For this reason the bioethical committee of the Altamedica Institute has decided to “cut earnings if there is no gestational success: only the expenses are paid” and the rest is given back to the couple who can perhaps try again, but with more serenity.

Because they are not rich couples and there are often those who “make money”, openly stated the doctor who recalled that the boom in Spain was determined by the fact that in Italy “Law 40 prevented anything”.

But now everything has changed: “Many couples proceed with the egg donation of young women. It is hypocritical to talk about donation – he pointed out – they are bought and the eggs practically all come from foreign countries. Ten years ago it was a 0.4-5%, currently we are at 15%”.

On the recently approved guidelines, Giorlandino underlined that “they have made it clear so today a woman who wants to adopt her own embryo can do so even if the couple has separated. Previously the man could refuse, now the Court of Cassation has expressed its opinion and the woman can implant it even against the will of the man-father who takes responsibility for it”, having given consent to the procedure.

“The cryopreservation of embryos has also increased and twin pregnancies are avoided” and it has gone from 3.6% in 2005 to 31.1% in 2022, from 1,338 to 29,890 embryos and the refinement of techniques allows you to become mothers even at 52 -53 years: “It depends on the woman” and on her health.

But Giorlandino has no doubts about the demographic winter: “Incentives for pregnancy are of little importance, support is needed to raise the child. The difficulty is economic”.