Birth defects risk rise with fertility techniques

Infants conceived with techniques commonly used in fertility clinics are two to four times more likely to have certain birth defects than are infants conceived naturally.

The findings applied to single births only, not to twins or other multiples. The defects included heart problems, cleft lip, cleft palate and abnormalities in the esophagus or rectum. But those conditions are rare to begin with, generally occurring no more than once in 700 births, so the overall risk was still low, even after the fertility treatments.

The procedures that increased the risk were so-called assisted reproductive techniques, like in vitro fertilization. The study did not include women who only took fertility drugs and did not have procedures performed, which was published online on Sunday by the journal Human Reproduction.

The study included only 281 women who had fertility procedures, so further research with larger population sizes need to be performed.