Older mothers may benefit from IVF

CONTRARY to popular belief, birth defects may actually be less common in babies born to mothers aged over 40 and conceived by IVF (in vitro fertilisation) than in babies born to women of the same age and conceived naturally.

These findings come from an Australian study, published in the International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (BJOG).

As a rule, babies conceived naturally and born to mothers over the age of 40 are exposed to higher risks of birth defects than those born to younger mothers. Women who undergo assisted reproduction also have an increased rate of birth defects compared to women who conceive naturally.

However, against all expectations, researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia observed a surprising inverse phenomenon in women over 40 who conceived by assisted reproduction, although the scientists aren’t able to fully explain their findings.

“There’s something quite remarkable occurring with women over the age of 40 who use assisted reproduction,” says lead author Prof Michael Davies from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute.

“[Our findings] show that infertile women aged 40 and over who used assisted reproduction had less than half the rate of birth defects of fertile women of the same age, while younger women appear to be at an elevated risk.”

The scientists studied more than 301,000 naturally conceived births, 2,200 IVF births and almost 1,400 births from intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), recorded between 1986 and 2002.

The researchers suggest that hormonal stimulation, a preliminary treatment phase for assisted reproduction, could help reverse the age-related decline in ovulation. – AFPRelaxnews