Risk for Birth Defects with Assisted Reproductive Technology: Higher or Not?

Although evidence has suggested that pregnancies resulting from assisted reproductive technology (ART) have higher risk for birth defects (JW Womens Health Dec 10 2009), it is not clear whether this excess risk is a consequence of the procedures or the infertility — and methodologic issues (e.g., small sample size, inappropriate control groups) have hampered interpretation. Investigators conducted a population-wide cohort study involving 309,000 deliveries (>6100 resulting from ART) in a single Australian state from 1986 through 2002 to evaluate risk for birth defects (assessed from pregnancy to the child's fifth birthday) associated with several infertility treatments compared with risk in spontaneous pregnancies.

Compared with women who co…