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An estimated 5 million births worldwide have resulted from assisted reproductive technology (ART) — but how good are the outcomes? In two studies, researchers evaluated incidence of major birth defects and favorable perinatal outcomes.
In the first study, investigators assessed the prevalence of major birth defects diagnosed by age 6 years in all births conceived by ART compared with non-ART offspring born in Western Australia from 1994 through 2002. Terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies were also taken into account. A total of 2911 ART births and terminations and almost 211,000 non-ART births and terminations were included. Major birth defects were diagnosed in 172 ART singletons and 11,078 non-ART singletons (8.7% vs. 5.4%; adjuste…