Assisted Reproduction Is Not Associated with Increased Risk of Congenital Head and Neck Defects

Abstract

Objectives: (1) Compare the rate of head and defects between children conceived via assisted reproductive technology (ART) versus those conceived via natural methods. (2) Determine the risk of congenital head and neck abnormalities associated with ART. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted of all patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit over 10 years at Children’s Hospital of Minneapolis. The patients were divided into 2 groups: patients who were conceived via ART and patients who were conceived naturally. Each chart was evaluated for 15 different head and neck malformations, 11 of which were included in data analysis due to statistical significance. Results: There were a total of 14,857 charts examined; 2288 patients were conceived via ART, while 12,569 patients were conceived via natural methods. There were 40 patients born with defects via ART, while there were 681 patients born with defects via natural conception. There were a total of 9039 males and 6637 females. The total occurrence of congenital malformations was higher for patients not conceived with artificial reproduction versus those conceived with artificial reproduction (4.58% vs 0.27%). The odds ratio was 0.31 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.23 to 0.43, P value of <.0001; the relative risk of having any one of the aforementioned defects with ART was 1.04 with a 95% CI of 1.03 to 1.05, P value <.0001. Conclusions: There appears to be no increased risk of congenital head and neck defects in children conceived via ART versus those conceived via natural methods.