#298 : Congenital Anomalies in Children Born after Assisted Reproduction in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Background and Aims: The number of children conceived by assisted reproduction techniques (ART) is increasing in the Czech Republic. However, several studies reported an increased incidence of congenital anomalies in ART-conceived children. The main goal of this study was to evaluate this theoretical risk using population-based data from Czech medical registries. Method: The retrospective epidemiological analysis was performed using data from the National Registry of Congenital Anomalies and the National Registry of Newborns, run by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic. All diagnoses of congenital anomalies (Q00-Q99) were included. The registration process is population-wide and compulsory by Czech law. We compared the incidences of congenital anomalies in naturally conceived children and ART-conceived children born in the Czech Republic for 8 years period (2013–2020). Statistical analysis was performed by Fisher’s exact test. Results: In our study, we demonstrated a higher incidence of congenital anomalies in the children born after ART (4.35%) compared to the incidence in the group of children born after spontaneous conception (3.90%). This difference was statically significant (p < 0.05). In the group of children born after ART, congenital defects of the central nervous system, congenital heart defects, and congenital defects of the gastrointestinal tract were diagnosed more frequently. In some groups of congenital defects, a higher proportion of males compared to females and a higher representation of cases with a congenital defect in children born from multiple pregnancies were also found. Conclusion: The results from our population-based study confirm that the incidence of selected groups of congenital anomalies may be higher in children born after ART.