Embryo screening shown not to harm the health of IVF babies 19/8/2004. By the Public Health Genetic Unit Researchers find that babies born where preimplantation genetic diagnosis has been used are no more likely to suffer from birth defects than babies born through a natural pregnancy.

The study, led by Yury Verlinsky at the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago, USA, and published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, looked at 754 babies in the USA and Italy. They compared the babies' incidence of birth defects to that of the general population and found the rate was almost equal.

There was a small increase of 0.4 per cent in conditions such as Down's syndrome or spina bifida and a 2-4 per cent increase in conditions such as cleft palate. However, these small increases can be attributed to the fact that mothers undergoing preimplantation genetic diagnosis tend to be older than women having normal pregnancies and maternal age is considered the main risk factor for children with birth defects.

Feature: Down's syndrome

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) welcomed this news. It supports their recent decision to relax their restrictions on who can apply for preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Previously, the HFEA allowed preimplantation genetic diagnosis only in cases where there was potential benefit to the child to be born, by avoiding an inherited genetic disease, as well as to the ill sibling.

Background: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

Now parents can use preimplantation genetic diagnosis to choose an embryo purely on the basis of tissue type compatibility to that of an ill child. With this evidence showing that preimplantation genetic diagnosis is not harmful to embryos, more parents in the UK may consider applying for the procedure.

Article courtesy of the Public Health Genetics Unit .

Image credit: Yorgos Nikas

Further reading

Verlinsky Y, et al. Over a decade of experience with preimplantation genetic diagnosis: A multicenter report. Fertil Steril 2004 82: 292-4. Abstract