Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DBJ_Jf9NCph/ Children born with with IVF and other assisted reproductive strategies have a 36% higher risk of congenital heart disorders diagnosed within the first year of life. This from some a study by the University of Gothenburg just published in the European Heart Journal. Studied were 7.7 million children born in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden between 1984 and 2015.  Besides the 36% higher general risk, the risk of these heart defects was the highest for assisted multiple births with a 44% higher risk vs. a 31% risk for single births. Now the actual number of births in the US with congenital heart defects is small, less than one in every 110 births, but those who are using IVF and other assisted reproductive techniques should be prepared for this occurrence.  The good news is that most of these lesions are treatable with excellent results.  You and your medical team just need to be aware of this possibility. https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-artic