Babies conceived through certain fertility treatment
techniques are about one-third more likely to have a birth defect than babies
conceived without any extra help from technology, according to a review of
several dozen studies. However, the researchers - whose findings were published
in the journal ‘Fertility and Sterility’ - did not determine why fertility
treatments are tied to a higher risk of birth defects or whether the technology
is even responsible. It's possible that the same reasons people have trouble
conceiving and seek out fertility treatment could influence their increased risk
of having a baby with a birth defect. It's also possible that the IVF
techniques themselves, the jostling and handling of the embryos, or the drugs
that go along with fertility treatment, could be involved. A third theory is
that birth defects only appear to be more common in babies conceived through
fertility treatments because they're monitored more closely than other babies.
For more than 124,000 children born through IVF or using ICSI, in which a
single sperm is injected directly into the egg, the risk of having a birth
defect was found to be 37 percent higher than that of the other children.
uk.reuters.com20/4/12
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