Therefore, it was widely assumed, but untested, that maternal age would be a key factor in birth defects from assisted reproduction,” he added..“We know from our previous studies that women who undergo assisted reproduction have an increased rate of birth defects compared to women who conceive naturally,” said Davies.This is contrary to widespread belief that the greater risk of birth defects after assisted conception is due to the frequent use of these services by older women.
According to researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, this may point to the presence of more favourable biological conditions in IVF (in vitro fertilisations) specific to pregnancies in older women — but they are currently working to determine the exact cause. For natural conceptions, the corresponding prevalence across age groups was 5.In births from assisted reproduction, the prevalence of birth defects ranged from 11.The average prevalence of a birth defect was 5.2 per cent in women aged 40 above.6 per cent in young women, increasing to 8.
“There is something quite remarkable occurring with women over the age of 40 who use assisted reproduction,” said lead author Michael Davies, professor from University of Adelaide.7 per cent among naturally conceived births, 7.3 per cent at its highest for women less than age 30 using ICSI, down to 3.1 per cent for the IVF births, and 9.Babies born to women aged over 40 from assisted reproduction have fewer birth defects compared with those from women who conceive naturally at that age, a new study has found.6 per cent for women aged 40 and older using IVF.“We also know that among women who conceive naturally, the rate of birth defects increases exponentially from age 35 onwards.9 per cent for the ICSI births, across all age groups.The research is based on data of Denmark power cables all live births recorded in Australia from 1986-2002, including more than 301,000 naturally conceived births, as well as 2,200 births from IVF and almost 1400 from ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection)