Elsevier

Fertility and Sterility

Volume 84, Issue 5, November 2005, Pages 1318-1319
Fertility and Sterility

Controversy response
Congenital abnormalities in children born after assisted reproductive techniques: how much is associated with the presence of infertility and how much with its treatment?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.04.065Get rights and content

Although there is increasing evidence to link couples with infertility undergoing all assisted reproductive technologies, particularly intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and congenital abnormalities, the reasons remain unclear. Much evidence suggests that infertility itself might be a risk factor, and further long-term follow-up studies involving different possible control groups will help determine whether these abnormalities are directly related to treatment.

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  • Neonatal outcome and birth defects in 6623 singletons born following minimal ovarian stimulation and vitrified versus fresh single embryo transfer

    2012, European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
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    After decades of research, convincing evidence suggests that assisted reproduction techniques are associated with approximately a 30–40% increase in the rate of birth defects when compared to naturally conceived children [25]. Reasons behind this phenomenon are unclear but it is hypothesized that patient characteristics related to infertility rather than specific ART techniques might be mainly responsible for the higher malformation rate [26]. Birth defect rates in ART children vary considerably (1.09–6.2%) between different studies due to methodological limitations [27].

  • Growth and development of children born after in vitro fertilization

    2008, Fertility and Sterility
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    In view of multiple comparisons, careful interpretation of these results, due to increased risks of chance findings, is of great importance. It is still unclear whether the slightly increased risk of congenital malformations observed among infants born after IVF is inherent to factors associated with the underlying causes of infertility or factors associated with the IVF procedure (51, 56, 57). The need for further prospective surveillance and collection of detailed and accurate information on the duration and causes of infertility, exact information regarding maternal drug exposure, and other parental background characteristics has been recently underscored (53).

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