Birth defects in infants conceived by ICSI

A study from researchers in Australia has tested the hypothesis that liveborn infants conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are at an increased risk of having a major birth defect.

• design - reclassification of birth defects reported in infants born after ICSI in Belgium and comparison with prevalence estimated in Western Australia by means of same classification system
• subjects - 420 liveborn infants who were conceived after ICSI in Belgium and 100, 454 liveborn infants in Western Australia delivered during the period
• results - infants born after ICSI were twice as likely as Western Australian infants to have a major birth defect
• conclusions - these results do not confirm the apparently reassuring results published by the Belgium researchers of ICSI. There are obvious possible confounding factors present in this study e.g. environmental differences between Belgium and Western Australia. Further research clarifying the risk of birth defects associated with ICSI is required.

Reference:

• (1) BMJ (1997), 315, 1260-1265.