The long-term health risks of ART: Epidemiological data and research on animals indicate that in vitro fertilization might create health problems later in life.

Abstract

Potential health risks associated with assisted reproduction technology (ART) have been suspected ever since the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born in the UK in 1978. These risks have constantly been reassessed in light of epidemiological data as well as animal studies. Yet, even 39 years is not long enough to obtain conclusive proof of significantly increased levels of serious conditions, including cancer, cardiac, or metabolic diseases. However, evidence has been more than sufficient to stimulate further research across the whole spectrum of treatments for sub‐fertility, given that demand continues to grow around the globe. A number of factors combine to drive up assisted reproduction rates, including rising awareness among infertile couples, technical advances, growing medical tourism, and, above all, the trend among women, especially in developed countries, toward delaying pregnancy into the 30s. As a result, of the 6 million or so babies conceived via ART since 1978, about half were born during the past decade. In the USA, 72,913 babies were born via ART in 2015 representing 1.6% of all births, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. > The risk of multiples alone means that ART babies are far more likely to suffer subsequent health problems associated with the greater incidence of being born prematurely. The situation is similar in Europe, where numbers of ART births increased by 7% between 2012 and 2013, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE; https://focusonreproduction.eu/2016/07/05/6-5-million-ivf-babies-since-louise-brown/). The study also noted that ICSI (intra‐cytoplasmic sperm injection) now accounted for two‐thirds of all ART treatments in Europe, mainly owing to male infertility. In ICSI, the embryologist injects a single sperm directly into an ovum, compared with IVF where fertilization takes place in a dish and many sperm swarm around one or a few eggs. The ESHRE emphasized …