The method results in hope and anxiety. But the recent advances in medical technology have lowered the trauma of women unable to conceive naturally.
Risks of birth defects are coming down among children born using Assisted Reproductive Technology or ART, a new study says.
The ART includes the artificial methods adopted by people who experience difficulties to conceive naturally. In vitro fertilisation (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), cryopreservation and intrauterine insemination (IUI) are some of the ART methods commonly used. ART has been prevalent in US from 1981 and each year, over one percent of American infants are conceived through ART.
According to a latest estimate from CDC, 147,260 ART sessions conducted in 2010 resulted in 47,090 live births.
Researchers from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Australia covered data from 1990's to 2002 and found birth defects among single babies born using Assisted Reproductive Technology in Western Australia declining from 10.9 percent (1994-1998) to 7.5 percent in between 1998 and 2002. Similar improvement was also noticed among twins conceived via ART.
"Our study suggests an encouraging decline in major birth defect prevalence in children born as a result of assisted pregnancies in Western Australia," Telethon Institute researcher Michele Hansen, said in a statement.
"Changes to clinical practice may be largely responsible with improved culture media and better culture and storage conditions leading to the transfer of 'healthier' embryos."
The findings come as a contradiction to a previous study that found risk of birth defects higher among babies conceived with the help of fertility treatments.
An earlier study in the journal Fertility and Sterility had found a 37 percent higher birth defect risk involved with children born with IVF technology than others.
However, the current study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, seeks to reassure the parent community.
"Whilst our study does still show that babies born using Assisted Reproductive Technology remain at a higher risk of birth defects, couples seeking to use these treatments can be reassured that the vast majority of infants are born healthy and do not have a birth defect." Hansen explained.
