A method of pregnancy that makes babies more likely to have congenital heart defects

However, heart defects are relatively rare. The study authors found these defects in 1.15% of children born naturally and 1.84% of children born after assisted reproduction. The risk rose to 2.47% for children born with artificial insemination of multiples.

The largest study of its kind to date is based on an analysis of more than 7.7 million births in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

“Previous research has shown that there are increased risks for babies born with the help of assisted reproductive techniques,” said the study’s lead author, Ola Britt Wennerholm, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. These include premature birth and low birth weight. “We wanted to investigate whether the risk of heart defects is higher for children born after assisted reproduction.”

Wennerholm’s team compared data on children conceived naturally versus children conceived through IVF, intracellular sperm injection (ICSI), when a single sperm is injected directly into an egg during IVF, and frozen embryos.

The researchers were then able to determine how many children in each individual group were diagnosed with a serious heart defect in the womb or during the first year of life.

The study authors took into account factors such as the mother’s age at birth and whether she smoked during her pregnancy or had a history of diabetes or heart defects.

The researchers hope that their findings will lead to timely diagnosis of heart defects and life-saving intervention.

“Congenital heart defects can be very serious and require specialized surgery when children are very young, so knowing which children are most at risk can help us diagnose heart defects as early as possible and ensure appropriate care and treatment,” Wennerholm said.

Wennerholm and her team believe there may be a link between infertile parents and children born with a heart defect. She explained: “The fact that the risk of heart defects is similar regardless of the type of assisted reproduction used may indicate that there are some common factors underlying infertility in parents and congenital heart disease in their children.”

Source: New York Post