Asian couples undergoing IVF treatment are less likely to have a baby than Caucasian couples, research suggests.
The study found people of Japanese, Indian and Chinese origin are 60% less likely to become pregnant than their white counterparts.
The research, by the University of California in San Francisco, is based on an analysis of 1,200 couples.
It was presented at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Philadelphia.
The research found that Japanese, Indian and Chinese patients undergoing IVF were less likely to get pregnant, and less likely to sustain a pregnancy through to full term.
Researcher Dr Karen Purcell, from the University of California in San Francisco, said the difference was staggering.
"Asian couples get pregnant at a much decreased rate - it is about 60% of what Caucasians do.
"Where the pregnancy rate overall for Caucasians is about 40% to 50%, for Asians it's about 30% in people undergoing IVF for the first time.
"An Asian women who is aged 35 has the pregnancy outcome of a white woman who is 40, and the trend for decreased pregnancy as you get older is much harsher for Asian couples."
Black Americans
A second study presented at the same conference found that black Americans are also less likely to have a baby through IVF than white couples.
Doctors say it is unclear why different racial groups have such widely differing IVF success rates.
However, they admit they have not studied possible factors, such as differences in diet.
The researchers also stressed that the same differences between racial groups did not apply to chances of getting pregnant naturally.
But data available from clinics in Hong Kong and Taiwan also shows their IVF success rates are much lower, so doctors are recommending that Asian couples who can't conceive naturally should see a specialist sooner rather than later.
Dr Mohammed Taranissi, the director of the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre in London, told BBC News that Asian people only made up 1% to 2% of his clients.
However, he said there was some evidence that they tended to have more severe fertility problems. For instance, very low sperm counts among the men, and polystic ovaries among the women.
Dr Taranissi said it was possible that Asian couples were also less likely to accept alternatives, such as sperm donation, than Caucasian couples.
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