The incidence of major birth defects following in vitro fertilization

Purpose: To evaluate the risk of congenital malformations in newborns delivered after IVF-ET in comparison with matched controls from spontaneous pregnancies. Methods: A total of 12,920 deliveries were subjected to retrospective analysis. A total of 301 neonates were evaluated. The incidence of major birth defects was compared with controls matched with regard to age, gravidity, parity, and previous obstetric outcome after spontaneous pregnancies. Results: The incidence of major congenital abnormalities was not significantly higher ( p > 0.05) among the cases (1.90%) than among the controls (1.15%). Conclusions: The risk of major birth defects following IVF-ET is comparable with that of spontaneously conceived, matched pregnancies.