IVF babies may be twice as likely to develop autism

March 26, 2015  21:41

Babies conceived through IVF may be twice as likely to develop autism, according to new research.

Children conceived using assisted reproductive technology were more likely to develop autism than babies conceived naturally.

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes any type of fertility treatment where the egg and the sperm are handled outside of the body, including IVF, artificial insemination and surrogacy.

As The Daily Mail reports, during IVF - the most popular ART treatment - more than one egg is harvested and fertilised, which can lead to multiple births.

Researchers explained they found an association between IVF and autism - but they did not prove that the treatment cause the disorder, according to HealthDay news.

The higher risk of the disorder could be explained by factors such as multiple births and other risks associated with IVF, not the treatment itself, they said.

After taking into account factors such as the mother's education and multiple births, researchers found the increased risk was only seen for mothers under 35 years old.

And they found there was no extra risk of autism for women who gave birth to one child.

This means IVF using a single-egg transfer rather than multiple eggs lowers the chance of a baby developing autism, experts said.

The study involved nearly six million children born from 1997 to 2007.

The team, led by Peter Bearman, a professor of social sciences at Columbia University in New York City, collected data on 5.9 million California births, including 48,865 infants conceived through assisted reproduction, and 32,922 children with autism.

They compared the incidence of autism in births that involved advanced infertility treatment such as IVF and those that didn't.

Professor Bearman said this was the largest study looking at this relationship that has ever been carried out.

The results are not a condemnation of IVF technology, as the study did not prove a cause-and-effect link, he said.

He added: 'There is an association between IVF and autism, but when we control for the characteristics of women who are more likely to use IVF, for example, age and social status, this association is lessened significantly,'

The remaining increased risk is due to factors such as multiple births and complications of pregnancy and delivery associated with IVF, he said.

He added that there was no significant increased risk of the disorder for children of women who gave birth to one child.

He said: 'Knowing that one can largely reduce the risk of autism by restricting the procedure to single-egg transfer is important for women who can then make better informed decisions.'

The research was published online in the American Journal of Public Health. 

The news comes after a major study published this week found genetics are the main cause of a child's autism, not lifestyle.

Scientists from King's College London said that, in the average boy or girl with autism, genetics explain up to 98 per cent of the illness.

Controversial research linking autism with the MMR jab has been widely discredited, but more recent concern has focused on the condition being fuelled by environmental factors such as pollution. 

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