IVF babies - preterm and low birthweight more likely

Hi,
Sorry for the long story, but i was wondering if anyone else had heard anything like this. Or is this just more of the rumours/scaremongering that we have to put up with?

IVF BABIES

A Melbourne study reported that babies conceived through in-vitro fertilisation are more likely to be born pre-term and of lower birthweight.

The study looked at 478 singleton births conceived at Monash IVF over eight years and compared them with a group of 2385 naturally conceived infants. Alison Venn, of the Centre for the Study of Mothers' and Children's Health, Victoria, said that the high incidence of pre-term birth and low birthweight was an important cause of mortality in IVF pregnancies.

The incidence of low birthweight (less than 2500g) in IVF pregnancies was higher 12.1 percent compared with the control group 5.5 percent.

The rate of pre-term births for the IVF group was 15.3 percent compared with only 6.5 percent and babies who were small for gestational age were 14.6 percent (IVF) compared with 10.7 percent.

Ms Venn said singleton IVF births were significantly more likely to be pre-term and of lower birthweight even after adjustments were taken into consideration for maternal age, prior miscarriages, maternal hypertension and pre-eclampsia.

However, another study presented at the conference found that IVF babies did not over-use health-care resources during their first postnatal year. The study by the Northern Clinical School of Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital compared the health of IVF-conceived babies with a group of those conceived naturally by mothers of similar age. The IVF babies were not found to have required more visits to general practitioners or admissions to hospital than the naturally conceived infants. However, the IVF babies were more likely to be fully immunised and have had a far greater number of visits to childhood health care centres.

I remember a report like that coming out a couple of years ago too, and I am skeptical. My ob reckons that there are no real discernable differences in the way a women carries her pg, taking into account age, general health and other medical conditions, once she falls pg, whether by IVF or not. He can't understand how IVF would impact on a baby's birth weight, or whether the baby decides to come early.

Mind you other studies have shown IVF babies to be smarter, or taller, or whatever else. Like any of it would be a deciding factor for any woman wanting a baby on whether to do IVF! Lol!

I do wonder if the reasons a woman ends up needing IVF are taken into account in studies like this.

I do know that it has been said that pregnancies achieved with clomid are more likely to end in miscarriage... but could that perhaps be a result of the fact that the majority of women needing clomid to conceive have PCOS or other hormonal problems which then puts them at a greater risk of miscarriage?...

I guess it's the whole chicken or the egg argument. I know that when we do conceive via IVF, I'll be doing everything I can to ensure my baby arrives safe and healthy and on time by keeping myself as fit and healthy as possible. There's nothing else I can do apart from that.

BW

i figure the same thing BW - how do you know if it's the IVF conception or the physical reason that the parents needs the IVF that causes these changes that they report

in my mind, the chances of having a smaller bubba just cos it's conceived via IVF is in no way going to change the fact that we'll pursue IVF if we need to! if you've gone through IVF, you obviously really want to have a child, so their birthweight isn't going to be important!

Sush, I think the same. I fail to see how the IVF process itself could be a factor in low birthweight or early delivery. Those two issues are the end result of a pregnancy with complications presumably, rather than an issue with the method of conception. I know they have said they took into account different factors which may have contributed but even so, I still don't see the link between being conceived in a dish and being born prematurely.

I wouldn't worry about it.

BW - Good point, as the population of mothers they are comparing are actually different in that probably the majority have hormonal or other issues. THerefore, perhaps this is the cause rather than the IVF.