ControversyIs IVF associated with an increased rate of birth defects?Children born after assisted fertilization have an increased rate of major congenital anomalies
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The study is based on children born to women having received IVF (IVF, ICSI, and FET) and other ART between 1996 and 1998 in Finland. The women were identified with a predesigned algorithm from the reimbursement files of the Social Insurance Institution (15) and linked to the Finnish Medical Birth Register (MBR); the time difference between the beginning of the last treatment cycle and the birth of the child was used to estimate which infants resulted from IVF or other ART (16).
The MBR includes
Results
In vitro fertilization and other ART mothers differed from control mothers, and IVF mothers from other ART mothers in regard to most characteristics (Table 1). Multiplicity was much higher in the IVF than in the other ART group, but the number of triplets was the same (16 vs. 17).
Among IVF and other ART children, 51% of reported major CAs had been accepted by the RCM, whereas among control children the proportion was 46%. In total, 195 IVF children (4.3%), 166 other ART children (3.7%), and 787
Discussion
We found increased total rates of major CAs for IVF and other ART singletons. Singleton boys from IVF in particular had more major urogenital and musculoskeletal CAs, and other ART singleton girls had more major heart anomalies. Among multiples, the total risk for a major CA was not increased, and for multiple IVF girls the risk had even decreased.
Can our results be trusted? Our data include most infants born as a result of IVF and other ART in Finland during the study period. The
References (25)
- et al.
Deliveries and children born after in-vitro fertilisation in Sweden 1982–95A retrospective cohort study
Lancet
(1999) - et al.
Perinatal outcome of pregnancies after assisted reproductiona case-control study
Am J Obstet Gynecol
(1999) - et al.
Outcome in the second year of life after in-vitro fertilisation by intracytoplasmic sperm injectiona UK case-control study
Lancet
(2001) - et al.
Neonatal outcome in pregnancies from ovarian stimulation
Obstet Gynecol
(2002) - et al.
In vitro fertilization is associated with an increased risk of hypospadias
J Urol
(1999) Hedelmällisyys Suomessa ennen, nyt ja tulevaisuudessa. (Fertility in Finland in the past, present and future.)
Yhteiskuntapolitiikka
(2003)- et al.
Congenital malformations in 4224 children conceived after IVF
Hum Reprod
(2002) - et al.
Incidence of congenital malformations in children born after ICSI
Hum Reprod
(2000) - et al.
Congenital malformations in infants born after IVFa population-based study
Hum Reprod
(2001) - et al.
The risk of major birth defects after intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in vitro fertilization
N Engl J Med
(2002)
Neonatal outcome and congenital malformations in children born after in vitro fertilization
Hum Reprod
Pregnancy course and outcome after intracytoplasmic sperm injectiona controlled, prospective cohort study
Fertil Steril
Cited by (162)
Assisted reproductive technologies and the risk of congenital urogenital tract malformations: A systematic review and meta-analysis
2021, Journal of Pediatric UrologySpeech and language development of children born following assisted reproductive technologies
2020, International Journal of Pediatric OtorhinolaryngologyCitation Excerpt :There is inadequate evidence for the effects of sex on the ART outcomes. Klemetti and colleagues [25] demonstrated that boys that born following IVF were more vulnerable to major congenital anomalies than girls. However, some studies have reported boys with low birth weight had poorer score than preterm girls in speech assessments [26].
Associations between embryo grading and congenital malformations in IVF/ICSI pregnancies
2019, Reproductive BioMedicine OnlineCitation Excerpt :This is similar to other frequencies reported in the literature (Katalinic et al., 2004; Mozafari Kermani et al., 2012; Seggers et al., 2015; Sutcliffe et al., 2001; Yan et al., 2011), which vary between 0.05% and 1.92% of births conceived by IVF/ICSI. Several studies (Davies et al., 2012; Hansen et al., 2002; Klemetti et al., 2005; Olson et al., 2005) have found an association between musculoskeletal anomalies and babies conceived by IVF/ICSI compared with spontaneously conceived pregnancies, although only a few (Halliday et al., 2010; Sagot et al., 2012; Seggers et al., 2015) have analysed the rate of talipes specifically and none addressed the role of embryo quality. No studies have reported the frequency of the ICD-10 diagnosis ‘Other congenital malformations’.
Supported by the Academy of Finland, the Ministry of Education, and the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health.