Children conceived through assisted reproductive technology account for up to 1% to 2% of the total births in some countries.
15 These technologies are known to be associated with high rates of multiple births, with attendant complications of prematurity and low birth weight.
5 6 Concerns are now emerging about increased risks of congenital anomalies owing to new methods of fertilization that use intracellular and biological manipulations.
15 Several studies of IVF births have demonstrated increased risk of congenital anomalies, including cardiac,
15 16 17 urogenital,
18 and upper gastrointestinal.
19 Ocular findings were reported as well, including reduced visual acuity, anisometropia, and ocular malformations.
10 A meta-analysis of assisted reproductive technique data sets documented an increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities.
20 The elevated birth defect risks are attributed to the treatments, the multiple pregnancies, parental selection bias, medications, and procedural factors involving manipulations of oocyte, sperm, and embryos.
15 Recently, an increased risk of retinoblastoma with assisted reproductive technology (ART) was reported.
21 In contrast, in a controlled national cohort study of 3,393 twins and 5,130 singletons conceived by assisted-reproduction technologies and 10,239 twins conceived naturally, children born after IVF had a similar risk of neurologic sequelae as their naturally conceived peers.
8 In our study, we excluded infants who had neurologic syndromes or were too sick to be examined, and thus we did not address the problem of congenital anomalies. We concentrated on the ocular growth in premature infants conceived by IVF compared with premature infants born after natural conception, avoiding differences that might arise from systemic and ocular anomalies. Thus, it is probably not surprising that we did not find differences in ocular growth that are attributable solely to the methods of conception.