Possible new risk for IVF babies

Babies born after fertility treatment run increased risk of genetic disorder. According to a recent study, children conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment run four times the normal risk of a rare genetic imprinting disorder, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), which causes gigantism and increases the risk of childhood renal cancer. The study was carried out by Birmingham University and the Babraham Institute in Cambridge. Researchers examined 149 children with the syndrome and found that three of them had been conceived by standard IVF techniques and another three by intracytoplasmic injection. If the incidence of births after IVF and ICSI (intracytoplasmic injection) in BWS patients and in the general population were similar, they would have expected 1.7252 of the 149 BWS patients studied to have been born as a result of IVF or ICSI. The observed frequency of IVF and ICSI births in the BWS series is significantly greater than the expected (1.7252). The proportion of artificially conceived children in the group was four times higher than in the general population. Children conceived by artificial techniques should be carefully followed up during the first years of life. According to The British Fertility Society, which represents specialists in assisted reproduction, there is no evidence that children born after IVF or intracytoplasmic injection suffer an increased burden of childhood cancer. Between 1995 and 2000 about 43, 000 babies in the UK were born as a result of assisted reproduction. Although 149 is a relatively small population, this is a very rare syndrome. A vast majority of IVF babies are born healthy and happy, but these findings intend to make the parents well informed of all potential risks and the need for study of these children's long term health. Further studies are required to determine the precise relationship between human disorders and ART (assisted reproduction technology), but with the trends towards increasing use of ICSI and for extending in vitro culture times in ART, it will be increasingly important to address these questions in large scale studies of children born after ART.