Higher Birth Defect Rates With Assisted Reproduction
The journal Human Reproduction reports on a nationwide US study which has found that babies conceived through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), such as in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, have higher rates of birth defects. Compared to infants conceived without ART, the CDC study found that in pregnancies which resulted in single births, ART was linked to twice the risk of certain heart defects and cleft lips and more than four times the risk of some types of gastrointestinal defects. Although the relative risk of birth defects are still low, it is certainly a consideration for couples who choose to conceive with ART.
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