Babies born through IVF may carry risk of birth defects related to reproductive, urinary and ophthalmic organs.
This has been reported at a paper presentation at the recently concluded National Conference of American Academy of Pediatrics held at New Orleans.
The study was conducted by Dr. Lorraine Kelley-Quon, a practicing general surgeon at UCLA Medical centre, California.
IVF and Its Link to Birth Defects
The study involved examining participants in the study for women who delivered babies through IVF treatments, their age, race, gender of the infant and any major birth defects in the infant. The test group consisted of 4795babies born through IVF. The results obtained were startling.
A total of 3463 babies among them were found to have major birth defects. The risk of a test tube baby being born with birth defects is 1.25 times more than those born through natural conception.
The risk of babies born through artificial insemination or ovulation induction (which are also artificial modes of conception) were not significant.
Conclusion of the Study
The researchers of this study have suggested that couples who wish to go through assisted reproductive therapies including IVF should consider talking to their doctor about the potential risks involved in such treatments before making a final decision.
