Babies born through "test-tube" treatments face significantly increased risks of some problems, researchers warn today.
IVF (In vitro fertilisation) now accounts for over one in a hundred births in the UK. Professor Jenny Kurinczuk of Oxford University, UK, and her team looked at several IVF procedures including intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), embyro culture and assisted hatching.
It is already known that IVF raises the chance of multiple birth, which can carry some medical risks such as premature birth. But the team found that multiple birth is 23 per cent more risky if it follows IVF than if it occurs naturally.
Among single births, the researchers say there is double the risk of premature birth following IVF. Singleton IVF babies also have a raised risk of low birth weight compared with other singletons.
IVF is associated with an increased risk of congenital anomalies compared with natural conceptions, but the team say the absolute risk is still low. The IQ, language development and behaviour of children born following IVF are similar to other children.
Findings are presented today (June 6) at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ International Scientific Congress in Kuching, Malaysia.
The team say there also seems to be an increase in early pregnancy and birth complications after egg donation, as well as a risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Professor Kurinczuk points out: "The majority of the children born following IVF will have a good outcome just like any other children. Poor birth outcomes and complications may be a combination of treatment and underlying features of the couple such as older maternal age.
"However, treatment strategies can be altered to improve outcomes, such as the adoption of elective single embryo transfer."
The research was being reported to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists International Scientific Congress held in Kuching, Malaysia.
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