Risks of In Vitro Fertilization Pregnancy

Since the world’s first in vitro fertilization was performed 37 years ago, this technique has been routinely performed in many countries. It has resulted in more than 4 million births worldwide.

In vitro fertilization has become a routine technique in many countries, making it a safe method of achieving pregnancy. Moreover, it has not been proven that undergoing a fertilization procedure increases the risk of developing cancer. There is also no evidence that early fetal loss is increased with in vitro fertilization.

Thanks to new technologies and the recent incorporation of egg vitrification, oncology patients can consider preserving their fertility for when they are able to become pregnant.

Risks of In Vitro Fertilization

However, it has been shown that patients who undergo in vitro fertilization are at increased obstetric risk. The risk of preeclampsia is higher in these patients, especially in twin pregnancies. However, this risk is only slightly increased.

There is also evidence that in vitro fertilization pregnancies have a risk of congenital defects, although this seems to be more related to the couple’s time of subfertility than to the technique itself.

Another demonstrated risk is the increased incidence of multiple gestations, which depends on the number of embryos transferred during in vitro fertilization. The rate of spontaneous twin pregnancies is between 1 and 1.35%, while with in vitro fertilization this percentage increases to between 15 and 25%. These pregnancies are associated with neonatal complications related mainly to prematurity (respiratory distress syndrome, intraventricular hemorrhage, pneumonia) that increase the neonatal mortality rate up to 6 times. These children are also at risk of suffering medium-term disorders such as cognitive and motor disabilities and cerebral palsy.

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Even so, the quality healthcare system available to us as well as the great advances in perinatal and neonatal medicine minimize many of these risks.

Twin pregnancies with in vitro fertilization

Twin pregnancies are a risk that worries the professionals who work in Assisted Reproduction. In fact, in some countries, assistance policies are facilitating the transfer of a single embryo to avoid these cases. In Spain, our legislation allows the transfer of up to three embryos per cycle.

The number of embryos transferred is what limits the risk associated with multiple gestation.

It must be taken into account that laboratory techniques are improving every day, making it possible to better select the quality of the embryo to be transferred, which improves the gestation rates per cycle by transferring a single embryo.

Finally, it should be noted that only a small proportion of patients born with in vitro fertilization have reached adulthood, and there are no studies that have validated the safety of this technique in adult life, especially in reproductive terms or in terms of risks associated with the development of chronic diseases.