IVF babies have risks, study says

LONDON -- Babies conceived through IVF or other fertility techniques have a higher risk of being premature, small at birth or of being delivered by Caesarean section, according to a report released today.

A review of 25 studies, published in the British Medical Journal, showed that pre-term births were twice as high for single babies conceived using fertility techniques such as in-vitro fertilization compared to other infants.

Complications and deaths at birth were also more common, babies tended to weigh less, and they were more likely to need specialtycare.

"Though assisted conception has had many successes, it seems that resulting singleton pregnancies have a worse outcome compared with naturally conceived singleton pregnancies," said Dr. Frans Helmerhorst of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

Fertility techniques are more likely to result in a multiple birth -- twins, triplets -- which is more dangerous for both the mother and the babies.

But Helmerhorst and his colleagues said there are also risks for single babies conceived through fertility treatments. Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, was born 25 years ago.More than 258,400 assisted reproductive technology treatments, resulting in an estimated 50,000 births, were reported in 22 European countries in 1999, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology. In the United States, there were 86,822 treatments in 1999.