Congenital anomalies observed in children conceived through assisted reproductive technology—a systematic review and meta-analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics

Abstract

Congenital anomalies (CAs) are a leading cause of perinatal and child mortality. With the increasing use of assisted reproductive technology (ART), there is a growing need for research on the health outcomes of children conceived through ART. This systematic review was performed to assess the incidence of CAs in ART-conceived children compared to those conceived naturally. This review followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and was registered with PROSPERO. A total of 113 studies were included in this meta-analysis, comprising 768,929 children in the ART group and 40,709,337 children in the control group which comprised spontaneously conceived (SC) children. The primary findings indicated that ART-conceived children have a marginally higher risk of CAs compared to the control group. Subgroup analyses showed that children conceived via ICSI, Day 3 transfer, and fresh embryo transfer (ET) had a slightly higher risk of CAs than those conceived via IVF, Day 5 transfer, or frozen embryo transfer (FET). The study highlights a slightly increased incidence of CAs among ART-conceived children over SC children, underscoring the importance of improving ART methods and closely monitoring the health of these children to reduce the risk of CAs.

First Page

1547

Last Page

1565

DOI

10.1007/s10815-025-03454-0

Publication Date

5-1-2025

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