Study: IVF Babies Have 45% Higher Risk of Death before 1 Year of Age

Researchers have found that the children conceived through assisted reproductive techniques including IVF (in vitro fertilisation) had a 45 per cent higher risk of death before 1 year of age than children conceived naturally. The findings, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, link the increased risk to a higher degree of premature births in IVF children and emphasize that the risk of infant mortality is still very small for both groups. "Our results indicate that the kind of assisted reproductive technique used may make a difference, and therefore it is important to further investigate what causes or underlying mechanisms are behind the risks," said study lead author Anastasia Nyman Iliadou from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

"They also show the need for extra attention and care of children conceived with IVF, especially during the first week of life," Iliadou added. Prior studies show that IVF-pregnancies come with an increased risk of low birth weight, prematurity and birth defects. These risks have partly been linked to the increased probability of twin-births after IVF-treatment. In the current study, the researchers selected only singleton children and compared mortality in children conceived through different types of assisted reproductive techniques with children who were conceived naturally. They analysed data on 2.8 million children born in Sweden over a period of 30 years. Some 43,500 of these were the result of assisted reproduction. In total, 7 236 children died before 1 year of age, of whom only 114 were conceived with assisted reproductive techniques. After adjusting for confounding factors such as the mother's age and earlier infertility, the researchers found that the children conceived through IVF had a 45 percent higher risk of death before 1 year of age than children conceived naturally.

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