PARIS — Children born after assisted reproduction face a significantly higher chance of having major birth defects, according to a study released Sunday.
Parents contemplating assisted reproductive technology (ART) should be informed that such treatments carry increased risks, the researchers warned.
The study, the largest of its kind to date, reviewed all the ART births in 33 registered clinics in France from 2003 to 2007, more than 15,000 children in all.
"We found a major congenital malformation in 4.24 percent of the children," said lead researcher Geraldine Viot, a clinical geneticist at the Port Royal maternity hospital in Paris.
The rate of such deformities for the general population is two to three percent.
"This higher rate was due in part to an excess of heart disease and malformations of the uro-genital system. This was much more common in boys," she said in a statement.
Among minor malformations, there was a five-fold increase in cases of angioma, the formation of benign tumours on or near the surface of the skin. These occurred twice as frequently in girls than boys.
"We estimate that in France some 200,000 children have been born through ART. A malformation rate of this magnitude is a public health issue," Viot said.
"It is important that all doctors -- and also politicians -- are informed about this," she added.
Parents of children born with malformations were not on average older than other parents in the ART group, so age did not seem to be a factor.
