IVF pregnancy
More than 3 million babies have been born by ART methods since the birth of the first IVF baby Louise Brown. Unfortunately, not all IVF procedures that result in a pregnancy lead to a live birth. Approximately 15-20% of IVF pregnancies do not result in a live birth. The table below summarizes the overall outcome of IVF pregnancies compared to natural conception.
Pregnancy after IVF
| IVF pregnancy | Natural conception | Comments | |
| Miscarriage | 14-30% | 15-20% | Slight increase, due to older age. |
| Ectopic pregnancy | 1-11% | 0.2-1.4% | Increase due to many factors. |
| Preterm delivery | 24-30% | 6-7% | Four-fold increase. |
| Small birth weight | 27-32% | 5-7% | Five-fold increase. |
| Stillbirth rate | 1.2% | 0.6% | Two-fold increase. |
| Perinatal death | 2.7% | 1.0% | Two-fold increase. |
| Congenital abnormalities | 0.8-5.4% | 0.8-4.5% | No significant increase. |
| Caesarean section | 33-58% | 10-25% | Increase mainly because of multiple pregnancy and woman's age. |
| Multiple pregnancy | |||
| twins | 24-31% | 1.2-4.5% | Increase due to higher number of embryos transferred. |
| triplets | 0.5-5.2% | 0.012% | |
| quadruplets | 0.5% | 0.0001% | |
Slightly more male infants are born after IVF. The transfer of blastocyst- stage embryos may further increase this shift in the sex ratio. It is possible that male embryos develop faster in culture.
Outcome of children born following IVF treatment
Follow-up of children born as a result of IVF, ICSI and other forms of assisted conception is needed to study issues such as genetic risk, congenital malformation, psychological development, educational development, fertility, and risk of cancer. Current data demonstrated no significant differences in the incidence of congenital and chromosomal abnormalities in children conceived after IVF compared to children conceived naturally. Furthermore, children appear to develop normally both from fresh and frozen embryo transfer. However, a recent major US study showed that babies born using assisted reproductive techniques like IVF are twice as likely to suffer from some heart problems and cleft lip and have four times the risk of certain gastrointestinal conditions.
The confidentiality affected by Human Fertilization and Embryology Act in the United Kingdom to the parents and children resulted from ART has meant that follow up of these children has not been possible.
References
Aids to Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fourth edition (ed.) G. M. Stirrat. 1997
Beral V, Doyle P. MRC Working Party on Children Conceived by In Vitro Fertilization: births in Great Britain resulting from assisted conception. 1978-1987. BMJ 1990; 300
Bergh T, Ericson A, Hillensjo T, Nygren K-G, Wennerholm U-B. Delivery and children born after in-vitro fertilization in Sweden 1982-95. The Lancet 1999. 354
HFEA Report 2005. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. United Kingdom
Rizk B. The outcome of assisted reproductive technology. In A textbook of In Vitro Fertilization and Assisted Reproduction, Second edition (ed.) P. R. Brinsden. 1999
SART Report 2000. Fertility & Sterility.