IVF Complications You Need to Know
Invitro fertilization has made it possible for couples to conceive even after years of trying unsuccessfully and with several factors stacked against them. While IVF really does seem like a miracle for many, it’s important to understand the complications associated with it if you are considering going with this route of assisted reproduction.
Possible Complications
In the year 2005 in Sweden, a study of stress was conducted involving 166 females who were observed beginning just a month prior to their in vitro fertilization cycles. The study results indicated no correlation that was significant regarding IVF outcomes and psychological stress. Although the stress experienced by patients psychologically may not influence in vitro fertilization outcomes, the experience of IVF may result in stress which consequently leads to depression.
The financial aspect involved in IVF alone may aggravate anxiety resulting in the couple becoming overwhelmed. However, the fact that the alternative is to have no children leads a lot of couples to go through with this procedure regardless of the stress involved. It should be noted that depression and anxiety do often plague a woman who is unsuccessful at IVF, so it's important to watch for the signs of depression and seek care if needed.
The main complication involved in the procedure of IVF is the possibility of multiple births. This is a result of the transfer of many embryos at one time during the embryo transfer. Births of multiple babies are found to have a relation to an increased risk of the loss of pregnancy, premature infant births, obstetrical complications and neonatal morbidity with the possibility of long term biological damage. In certain countries such as England, there is a strict limit imposed on the number of developing embryos that is permitted to be transferred.
This is done in order to reduce risking multiples that have a high order such as quadruplets or more. These limits are not globally accepted or followed, however. Embryos in the womb that have spontaneously split after being transferred sometimes occurs which then leads to having identical twins.
IVF Babies
One randomized, double blind study that monitored IVF pregnancies showed that in seventy three infants, forty of which were girls and thirty three of which were boys, 8.7% of single infants and 54.2% of twins had birth weights less than 2,500 grams. For unknown reasons, recent evidence finds that offspring which are singleton conceived via IVF have more risks of having a low birth weight for reasons that are not yet known. Overall, however, socio-emotional functioning and behaviour of IVF conceived children is normal, based on the studies of IVF children who were between nine to eighteen years of age.
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