(11-17) 18:15 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Infants conceived as a result of infertility treatments are two to four times more likely to have certain types of birth defects than children conceived naturally, according to one of the nation's largest studies on...

A new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that children conceived with assisted reproductive technology (ART) are two to four times more likely to have birth defects as compared to naturally conceived infants. The findings were applicable only in single births and not in the case of twins or multiple births.

ART refers to a procedure where the eggs are surgically removed from a woman’s womb and combined with sperm in the laboratory and then returned to the woman’s body. In-vitro fertilization is a procedure that is included in the process. The use of only fertility drugs was not examined in this study.

In an agency news release Jennita Reefhuis, an epidemiologist at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities said, "Today, more than one percent of infants are conceived through ART, and this number may continue to increase. While the risk is low, it is still important for parents who are considering using ART to think about all of the potential risks and benefits of this technology."

Dr. Reefhuis added, “I think it is important for couples to consider the fact that there may be a risk for birth defects,” in the study published online on Sunday by the journal Human Reproduction.

In the study researchers compared data from 14,095 naturally conceived births to 281 ART conceived births and they also...
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