Births in Great Britain Resulting From Assisted Conception, 1978-87

Abstract

Objective -- To describe the characteristics at birth of children conceived by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or by gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and to assess whether they differ from those of children conceived naturally. Setting -- England, Scotland, and Wales from 1978 to 1987. Subjects -- 1267 Pregnancies conceived by IVF or GIFT, which resulted in 1581 liveborn or stillborn children. Main outcome measures -- Sex ratio, multiplicity, gestational age at birth, birth weight, stillbirth rate, perinatal and infant mortality, and prevalence of congenital malformations...Conclusions -- Multiple pregnancies often result from assisted conception and are the main determination of the outcome of the pregnancies and of the health of the children at the time of birth. Congenital malformations are comparatively rare, so larger numbers of children need to be studied before firm conclusions can be drawn. The pooling of data from different countries is recommended.