Pregnant IVF women ‘at risk of death’ due to poor check-ups

WOMEN are dying because of a lack of proper health checks before IVF fertility treatment, experts have warned.

Doctors said women who want IVF should be screened first for conditions including heart disease and diabetes, which are linked to a higher risk of death during pregnancy and after birth – especially in older women who are more likely to have IVF.

But clinics often fail to carry out simple checks or warn women that getting pregnant could put their health and lives in danger, they claimed.

Jenny Kurinczuk, professor of perinatal epidemiology at the University of Oxford, said: “Women need to be properly medically assessed prior to IVF, especially if they are older, because they need to be informed about the risks that they may be taking, especially if they have existing medical problems.”

Speaking at an online event run by the fertility ethics charity the Progress Educational Trust, she highlighted a recent British case where a woman died of a heart attack after the premature birth of her baby, conceived by IVF.

The woman was given fertility treatment despite being older, obese, diabetic and with a family history of heart disease. “Although she had multiple risk factors, there is no evidence this woman had any assessment of her medical problems or a discussion of their implications prior to IVF treatment,” she said.

Prof Kurinczuk told fertility clinic providers they must carry out tests and refer patients with suspected health problems to see medical experts, warning: “Otherwise women will die”.

Studies have suggested women who have IVF are at a higher risk of complications and death during or after pregnancy. Researchers believe this is because women who have IVF are more likely to be older and have underlying health problems – which may be the root cause of their infertility – rather than being caused by the treatment.

Only around 2 per cent of babies born in the UK were conceived by IVF, but women who had IVF made up 7 per cent of maternal deaths from heart disease.

Prof Kurinczuk said there was “no evidence” any of these women had their heart health assessed before IVF, despite the condition being the biggest killer of pregnant women and new mothers in the UK. Between 2016 and 2018, heart disease caused 50 out of 217 deaths of women during or up to six weeks after pregnancy.