Test-tube baby risks investigated

Wednesday February 24th, 2010

So-called test-tube baby treatment can make a massive difference to couples seeking to have children - but two new studies published today highlight the risks.

A team from the Tornblad Institute in Sweden found that non-identical twins conceived through IVF have a higher risk of complications after birth than spontaneously conceived non-identical twins.

Twins in general run greater risks of complications than singletons. Many previous studies have compared IVF twins, most of whom are non-identical, with spontaneously conceived twins (derived from one egg), who are more likely to be identical.

Professor Bengt Kallen and colleagues looked at 1,545 pairs of non-identical twins born after IVF and 8,675 pairs conceived naturally, recorded in Swedish national health registers.

In BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, they report that the risk for preterm delivery before 32 weeks was significantly increased among IVF twins.

Professor Kallen said: "The study shows that unlike-sexed (therefore dizygotic) twins born after in vitro fertilisation have a worse neonatal outcome than such twins spontaneously conceived. The finding supports the need for a reduction in twinning risk after in vitro fertilisation. This can be achieved by single embryo transfer."

A further study, led by Dr Kirsten Wisborg of Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, found that the risk of stillbirth is 4.44 times higher after IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) than spontaneous pregnancies or non-IVF fertility treatment.

The finding is based on 20,166 singleton pregnancies recorded in the Aarhus Birth Cohort.

Dr Wisborg writes in the journal Human Reproduction: "The increased risk of stillbirth seen after fertility treatment is a result of the fertility treatment or unknown factors pertaining to couples who undergo IVF/ICSI, rather than factors related to the underlying infertility of the couples."

Kallen B, et al. Selected neonatal outcomes in dizygotic twins after IVF versus non-IVF pregnancies. BJOG, published online February 24, 2009.

Wisborg, K., Ingerslev, H. J. and Henriksen, T. B. IVF and stillbirth: a prospective follow-up study. Human Reproduction, published online February 24, 2009.

Tags: Child Health | Childbirth and Pregnancy | Europe | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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