Australia – The team of Dr. Hansen of the Institute for Child Health in Subiaco has shown that twins conceived through an assisted reproductive technology (ART) are more likely to receive neonatal care and be hospitalized during the first three years of their lives than twins conceived spontaneously.

Previous studies had shown the vulnerability of twins conceived by ART: premature birth and birth weight less are more common among them. Nevertheless, scientists could not say that the ART was the cause of these problems. The perinatal results and the admissions at the hospital of Australian twins between 1994 and 2000 have been studied by the scientists.

ART often leads to fraternal twins, while the design of all natural causes of false twins. The researchers compared the fraternal twins conceived of these two ways to see that the twins from ART have twice the risk of premature birth and death that fraternal twins from a natural risk equivalent to that of twins .

The twins from ART are hospitalized longer after birth, are four times more likely to be admitted to neonatal intensive care and undergo hospitalization during the first three years of their lives, compared to twins conceived spontaneously. The risk is the same regardless of the external factors that can generate these problems (mother’s age, year of birth, duration and cause of infertility).

In Sweden, other researchers have found that children from frozen embryos, or 25% of babies conceived by ART in the world, had more weight at birth and a higher risk of premature birth less than children conceived by ART, with direct injection of the embryo.

Assisted Reproductive Technology

The risks of Assisted reproductive technology:

Assisted Reproductive Technology – SEFC’s Caring Environment