Children born to couples who have
undergone fertility treatment are more likely to be diagnosed
with autism, cancer and other disorders such as cerebral palsy
and mental retardation, researchers claimed yesterday.
The higher risk to child health
is believed to be caused by medical problems in the parents,
such as diabetes and hypertension, damaging the child in the
womb, but doctors conducting the study said IVF and other
fertility treatments may also play a role. Medical records of
children born after their parents sought fertility treatment
showed they were four times more likely to have autism than
those born to fertile parents. Childhood cancers including
leukaemia and brain tumours also rose.
The risk of more minor
problems, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, rose
by 40%, and other medical conditions affecting hearing and sight
nearly doubled. Children had a 30% higher chance of being
admitted to neonatal intensive care units and to stay in
hospital for more than three days if they were born following
fertility treatment, the study found.
The researchers stressed the
figures represent relative risks. In July researchers at Guy's
and St Thomas' hospital in London reported the prevalence of
autism to be 0.39% in the general population, a figure that will
include some children born to parents aided by fertility
treatment. A fourfold rise in the risk of autism would see a
child's chances of having the condition increase to 1.56%.
Mary Croughan at the University
of California in San Francisco studied 2,000 women who either
gave birth naturally after a long period of infertility, or
conceived after a variety of fertility treatments, and compared
them with 2,000 fertile mothers who gave birth between 1994 and
1998. More than 19,000 medical records were used to build up a
picture of the women's pregnancies and deliveries and the health
of their children up to six years of age.
The researchers found infertile
women had more complications such as pre-term labour and pre-eclampsia,
more delivery difficulties and caesarean sections. Children born
to infertile women were 20% more likely to have low birth
weights and were twice as likely to show evidence of poor growth
in the womb. Speaking at the American Association for
Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) conference in New Orleans, Dr
Croughan said that medical conditions more common in infertile
couples may be to blame for the rise in childhood health
problems. She said: "The vast majority of children born to
infertile couples are healthy, but if a couple has any risk
factors that could lead to a child not being born healthy, then
those should of course be taken into consideration."
Clare Brown, chief executive of
Infertility Network UK, said "continual research" was needed to
ensure "treatment is safe for couples and potential children".
