Children born via IVF significantly more likely to suffer from asthma

Children born through IVF are more likely to suffer from asthma ‘because of the fertility drugs their mothers used’

• The risk is up to 42 per cent higher for children born using fertility aids 
• Procedures might affect the embryo, rather than the sub-fertility of parents 
• More than 8million children have been born across the world via IVF  

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Thousands of children born each year by IVF could be at risk of asthma, a study suggests.

Researchers found IVF increases the risk of childhood asthma by 22 per cent.

Scientists from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, who tracked more than 500,000 children, believe the drugs given to mothers during the IVF process might cause asthma in their children.

Children born via IVF significantly more likely to suffer from asthma due to drugs used, a study led by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health on more than 550,000 children found

The way embryos are handled and manipulated before they are implanted in the womb might also play a role, they said.

More than 8million children have been born across the world via IVF since the technology was pioneered in Britain 40 years ago.

In the UK alone 20,000 children are born each year using IVF. The figure is closer to the 60,000 mark in the US.

Experts have repeatedly warded off fears that children born this way might have poor health in later life.

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They often argue that if there are any health impacts, it is more likely to be linked to a mother’s underlying infertility, rather than the IVF itself.

But the Norwegian scientists, whose work is published in the BMJ journal Thorax, claim they have shown that while asthma is partly linked to a mother’s fertility problems, a major part is down to the IVF procedure itself.

Initially they found that children born using IVF were 42 per cent more likely to develop asthma by the age of seven than children conceived naturally.

WHAT IS ASTHMA?

Asthma is a common but incurable condition which affects the small tubes inside the lungs.

It can cause them to become inflamed, or swollen, which restricts the airways and makes it harder to breathe.

The condition affects people of all ages and often starts in childhood. Symptoms may improve or even go away as children grow older, but can return in adulthood.

Symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, a tight chest and coughing, and these may get worse during an asthma attack.

Treatment usually involves medication which is inhaled to calm down the lungs.

Triggers for the condition include allergies, dust, air pollution, exercise and infections such as cold or flu.

If you think you or your child has asthma you should visit a doctor, because it can develop into more serious complications like fatigue or lung infections.

Source: NHS  

But they then compared the IVF children to those born naturally but whose parents who had taken more than 12 months to conceive.

They found the additional asthma risk was smaller, but still remained at 22 per cent, suggesting half the risk was linked to fertility problems and half to the IVF procedure.

They wrote: ‘Several steps in the assisted reproductive technology treatment may alter the natural course of the fetal development.

‘For example, medications taken to induce ovulation and to ensure that the pregnancy stays intact during the early phases, the type of medium used for the culture, freezing and thawing cycles, the possibility of polyspermic fertilisation, the hormonal environment and/or manipulation of the embryo.’ 

British experts, however, last night criticised the study, stressing the authors did not take into account key aspects such as whether the parents smoked.

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe of University College London, said: ‘The study did not have access to key confounders such as paternal smoking rates.

‘Their proposed mechanistic link between asthma and assisted conceived is oblique and in my view implausible.

‘This study needs to be considered as largely speculative and unconvincing.

‘The rates of “asthma” were implausibly low and this suggests a fault in how it was defined.’ 

Dr Jane Stewart, chair of British Fertility Society, said: ‘Whilst this study raises some interesting questions, there are many variables involved in both infertility and the development of asthma.

‘Much more investigation would be required to establish any causal link.’ 

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