IVF risk for older mums
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July 4, 2011 |
Thirty-five doesn’t sound that old to me, but it is when it comes to fertility. It’s already known that there’s a higher risk of failed pregnancies or genetic problems once prospective mums reach this age. New research suggests IVF treatment could increase this risk.
Understanding why this happens in over-35s could improve IVF success rates for these women. But a lot more research is needed to know whether the treatment causes the abnormalities, or just allows the use of unhealthy eggs that wouldn’t be fertilised naturally.
This news story is supported by the Wellcome Trust, GlaxoSmithKline and Life Technologies Foundation as part of the Who am I? project.
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IVF mums over thirty-five are four times more likely to have a baby with certain genetic conditions.
Image: Ekem
Suzy
I definately don’t want kids but that doesn’t mean I’m against IVF. I like that it can help couples who really want kids to conceive. But I’m not sure I’d be so keen if it meant risking the health of their kids.
Claudia
I find statements like “women over 35 are 4 times more likely to have a baby with certain genetic conditions” very scary and unprecise. I would like to know the actual likelyhood. “4 times more” does not tell me very much. It just scares me.
Priya
The study looked at Down’s syndrome specifically- and found that the risk for Down’s babies after IVF was 1 in every 1,500 babies in women under 35. But for women over 35 it was 1 in 350. For mums over 45, the risk increased further to 1 in 30- scary stuff indeed.