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Though assisted-reproduction techniques (ART) are known to come with a higher risk for birth defects, a new review of defect rates in Western Australia shows major birth defects becoming less common over the course of a decade among babies born through ART.
It's unclear why there have been fewer birth defects in more recent years.
"Changes to clinical practice may be largely responsible with improved (laboratory techniques) leading to the transfer of 'healthier' embryos," suggested Michele Hansen, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Subiaco, Western Australia.
It's also not known why babies conceived through ART are likelier to have an increased risk of birth defects in the first place.
A recent estimate, based on the results of several dozen studies, found that ART is linked with a 37 percent increase in the risk of being born with a birth defect (see Reuters Health story of April 19, 2012).
Hansen said she and her colleagues wanted to get an update on those rates using a database of all births...
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