Children conceived with the aid of fertility treatments are more likely to be born with serious physical defects, an Australian study said.
Conception using treatments like ovulation induction, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or the injection of sperm directly into an egg, resulted in serious defects in 8.3 percent of cases studied, the research team said.
The corresponding ratio in spontaneous conceptions was 5.8 percent — a “very” significant difference, lead researcher Michael Davies of the University of Adelaide said.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday.
“Something that is not often talked about in the clinic, I suspect, is the risk of having an abnormal baby. And so this emphasizes this is something that must be talked about between patients and clinicians,” he said. “They must discuss the risk for this when choosing the treatment.”
Davies, from the university’s Robinson Institute for fertility, said the research had focused on serious defects, “things that either require treatment or if there is no treatment they are going to be considered handicapping,” like a heart condition or cerebral palsy.
The study covered 308,974 births registered in South Australia between January 1986 and December 2002, of which 6,163 had resulted from assisted conception.
“I don’t think there is any reason it wouldn’t be applicable to the majority of clinics around the world,” said Davies, calling for further research.
More than 3.7 million babies are born every year as a result of fertility treatment.
The survey, which researchers said was the most comprehensive of its kind yet, found that not all treatments were equally risky.
The scientists noted birth defects in 7.2 percent of children born from IVF and 9.9 percent from intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
For IVF, the percentage dropped significantly when taking into consideration factors like parental age, smoking and other factors, but for ICSI it remained high.
ICSI, in which a sperm cell is injected directly into an egg, is a form of IVF — which involves the fertilization of an egg outside the body, in a laboratory.
Davies said there were several theories on why ICSI was more risky — possibly involving the use of damaged sperm or damage caused by manipulation of the sperm and egg in the lab. With IVF, the sperm entered the egg of its own accord.
“There are factors associated with ICSI that require further research,” he said.
The researchers also found a tripling of risk in women using clomiphene citrate, a drug for ovulation induction.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other