In vitro fertilization may be linked to bladder defects.

2003 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center report that a group of rare urological defects, including bladder development outside the body, may be more common in children conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). The researchers caution, however, that the findings are preliminary, and should not necessarily dissuade couples from considering the procedure.

Information collected on 78 children with cloacal-bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex treated at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center from 1998 to 2001 shows these birth defects are approximately seven times more widespread in IVF children. An estimated 12-14% of the children born each year with exstrophy-epispadias in the United States are evaluated at the Children's Center. The findings are reported in the April 2003 issue of the Journal of Urology.

"What we are seeing now is simply an association between this group of birth defects and IVF births," said the study's senior author, John P. Gearhart, MD, director of the division of pediatric urology at the Children's Center. "Further research is needed to verify these findings and understand this association. These defects are extremely rare, and our preliminary findings should not alone discourage couples from undergoing IVF."

Exstrophy-epispadias complex, which comprises defects of the bladder, pelvic bones, urethra, and genitals, occurs in approximately 4 out of every 100,000 live births. Applying this incidence data to the 112,127 children who were born through IVF from 1997 to 2000, researchers determined that approximately 5 affected children would ...