Achievements

 

 

IVF and Birth Defects
Institute researchers evaluated birth defects in babies born after assisted conception.  There has been little research into the prevalence of birth defects in these children and our researchers examined children conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and children conceived naturally.  Results have shown that children conceived through ICSI and IVF are more than twice as likely as naturally conceived babies to be diagnosed with major birth defects in their first year of life (9% rate of birth defects for ICSI and IVF babies and 4,2% for naturally conceived babies).  While the doubling of risk is significant, it must also be remembered that more than 90% of babies with any significant problems.