STUDY QUESTION
Are the risks of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, transposition of great arteries, tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and coarctation of the aorta increased in infants conceived by different assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs)?
STUDY ANSWER
ARTs, and particularly intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), are specifically associated with a higher risk of TOF.
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN
ARTs are associated with an increase in the overall risk of birth defects. The risk for congenital heart defects (CHDs) associated with ARTs has been evaluated as a whole but there is limited information on the risks for specific CHDs.
STUDY DESIGN, MATERIAL AND METHODS
We conducted a case–control study using population-based data from the Paris registry of congenital malformations for the period 1987–2009 and a cohort study of CHD (EPICARD) on 1583 cases of CHDs and 4104 malformed controls with no known associations with ARTs. ARTs included ovulation induction only, IVF and ICSI.
RESULTS
Exposure to ARTs was significantly higher for TOF than controls (6.6 versus 3.5%, P = 0.002); this was not the case for the other three CHDs. ARTs (all methods combined) were associated with a 2.4-fold higher odds of TOF after adjustment for maternal characteristics, paternal age and year of birth [adjusted odds ratios (OR): 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.5–3.7] with the highest risk associated with ICSI (adjusted OR: 3.0, 95% CI: 1.0–8.9). No statistically significant associations were found for the other CHDs.
LIMITATIONS
Our study cannot disentangle to what extent the observed associations between the risk of TOF and ARTs are due to causal effects of ARTs and/or the underlying infertility problems of couples who conceive following ART.
IMPLICATIONS
The developmental basis of the specific association between the risk of TOF and ARTs need to be further investigated.
FUNDING
This work was supported by grants from the Agence de Biomédecine (Saint-Denis La Plaine, France) (to B.K.). The Paris Registry of Congenital Malformations received financial support from INSERM (Paris, France) and the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (Saint-Maurice, France). The EPICARD study was supported by three grants from the Ministry of Health (PHRC 2004, 2008 and 2011). Additional funding for the EPICARD study was provided by the AREMCAR Association (Association pour la Recherche et l'Etude des Maladies Cardiovasculaires).
COMPETING INTERESTS
None.
Source:
http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/28/2/367?rss=1
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
