


Davies and his colleagues from the university combed through over 300,000 South Australian births, including 4,300 that were conceived with assistance. After the babies were born, researchers compared adverse birth effects, such as stillbirth or low birth weight, against methods of infertility treatment, including IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), ovulation induction, and cryopreservation of embryos.

Single births that were conceived through assistance were twice as likely to result in a stillbirth or preterm birth, three times more likely to produce an infant of low birth weight, and twice as likely to die 28 days after having been born. ICSI assisted births were less likely to end with adverse health complications through the use of frozen embryos; however, these types of births were at an increased risk of macrosomia, also known as big baby syndrome.


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.7 million women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 44 have been diagnosed with an impaired ability to become pregnant or carry a baby to term. Conditions that affect a woman’s ovaries, fallopian tubes, or uterus are likely to cause female infertility.

One out of every eight infants is born prematurely and one out of every 160 pregnancies ends in stillbirth. Infants born weighing less than five pounds and eight ounces are considered to be of low birthweight. These pregnancy complications leave the child at risk to further health concerns as they get older including disrupted neurological development and musculoskeletal disorders.