Long term baby health IVF/ICSI

[Viletta]

Hi all, reading a lot of disturbing articles on long term health of IVF/ICSI babies. They basically say that underlying infertility and the ART procedure as well can cause epigenetic changes in the baby that can pose higher risks of developing all sorts of health conditions. Another discussion is that lots of other factors such as paternal/maternal health prior to conception and exposure to triggers during pregnancy can affect the baby's epigenetics. I found these articles very disturbing and wondered if your clinic ever mentioned it or you have any thoughts on the topic?

What conditions do you think are more prevalent? Where did you read about this?

From my understanding, the risks of genetic problems with IVF are higher but still (in real terms) minuscule. The theory of epigenetic changes is valid but the risks could also be associated with older parents and other factors.

Can you link to the lot of disturbing articles on long term health of IVF/ICSI babies?

That's very interesting and if you could share the source I would like to read about it.
With no medical background of any sorts, I would say that the increased risk might be related to the parent's infertility? I.e. nature normally takes care of not letting aneuploid embryios develop, however with IVF you bypass some of the struggles. Also, it's often older parents who undergo it and again that is another risk factor.
It would be interesting to know if the ART procedures impact the genetic/health of the baby, however I doubt science is at a stage when this can be tracked.
I agree on epigenetic changes as for now it's all about switching genes on and off and we don't have a clue how this works!

MFI would likely be carried through to a male I believe. I've seen various other reports on risks to health but none of them from credible sources.

My understanding of the slightly increased risks with ICSI is that the minuscule increase in the risk of very rare birth defects is thought to be due to the underlying cause of the male infertility which makes ICSI necessary in the first place.

My clinic mentioned this but nothing else.

There is just a ton of papers coming when I typed in epigenetic changes IVF/icsi or long term health outcomes IVF/icsi. I didn't want to post the studies here but I found these ones most broad in the amount of studies reviewed:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-developmental-origins-of-health-and-disease/article/health-outcomes-of-human-offspring-conceived-by-assisted-reproductive-technologies-art/CCAB19CFF6E383F53AF7BE397CF1E4D7/core-reader#

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327693656Long-termmfollow-upoffICSI-conceivedoffspringgcomparedwithhspontaneouslyconceiveddoffspringaasystematicreviewwofhealthhoutcomesbeyonddtheneonatallperiod

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/816157v1.full

100,000s of babies are born each year from IVF/ICSI - the risk is still tiny. And actually most of us are in the best physical shape of our lives going in to treatment because we want the best chance of it working (not drinking, better diet etc) so I think that should offset some of it

From what I gathered there were studies comparing siblings born through IVF vs naturally, as well as couples with no fertility issues (donor egg/sperm), tried to match control group in terms of age and found that the following affects embryo development: underlying infertility of the parents, IVF/ICSI procedure itself (some studies showed epigenetic changes that might be caused by the use of chemicals at freezing/thawing). Most studies agree that IVF/ICSI alone may contribute to increased risks of diabetes 1, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

There are lots of inconsistencies and there is no definitive conclusion. General recommendation is to keep following up. Some studies suggest there is enough evidence to get counseling for parents who try to conceive via IVF/ICSI. I just wonder I was in two clinics and none of them said there is a difference. Also I looked at studies from 2018 onwards and I think there was not as many back then... or maybe I just didn't want to know.

@ivfgottostaypositive that's very true! The last link I posted shows a number of risks associated with pre-conception poor diet, smoking, etc. So IVF couples are indeed usually more healthy. I think we are just doing as best as we can!

I think as with most of these things, the actual increased risk is probably in the fractions of a percent range. Certainly anecdotally I know plenty of perfectly healthy IVF children, and children not born through IVF who have complex needs. There are no guarantees either way, I guess you've just got to be prepared to go with whatever life throws at you.

Thank you for posting the articles, I will read them later.
Going back to your original question, no the clinics I have been to never mentioned these sort of risks (but to be honest I signed a tons of paperwork and it might have been there and I don't remember).
However, epigenetics is still very much work in progress towards what changes might bring, so so many factors affecting the development of a baby even when not IVF (the water we drink, the air we breath, literally anything and everything affects the outcome).

I have an ICSI baby and another on the way. One is a frozen embryo, one fresh.

We asked about long term health risks and were told that as we have MFI it might pass down to any boys we had (we've had two girls by chance so as it turns out nothing to worry about), and that by doing ICSI we were effectivly overriding the natural selection process.

But the consultant also stated that most know risks associated with IVF/ICSI at this stage were associated with multiple birth, rather than assisted conception, hence why there is a 'one at a time' drive in the UK.

We were also told that if frozen embryos survived the defrosting process they often had better outcomes than fresh eggs.

I've been reading up on the emmerging theories about long term metabolic issues, as these were not mentioned at any point, but think the studies on this are small, and it's early days.

I think the risks associated with multiple births are probably more striking?

@RenegadeMrs we are having a boy from ICSI so my original search was to find out whether the infertility will be passed on. We were diagnosed with MFI due to epigenetic factors.

Agree with all, that relative risks are still very low and we are doing everything in our power to be healthy.

Also I read a good point about choosing who enters the study so results are inconclusive. Epigenetics is such a mind bender, I guess all we can do is try to stay healthy.

Congratulations on your little boy! When are you due?

Congrats OP!

I understand your concerns. I've been looking at the theory of fetal programming and epigenetic changes for a different reason. What's very clear though is that long term health is very complex and influenced by a huge number of factors. On an epigenetic level, preconception health and diet, in utero environment after implantation and early life etc all play a role as well as underlying genetics and lifestyle.

We can all only do our best and at the end of the day who knows what is good and bad! We're only just beginning to understand how these things may happen.

In terms of actual birth defects and paediatric conditions the risk if any is indeed very, very small and the risk is always there to some degree with any pregnancy.

@Squishsquashed thank you for stopping by to reply. It makes complete sense and put my mind at east.

@RenegadeMrs thank you! Early October!