BABIES conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) are almost three times more prone to have two genetic brain disorders, a study by consultants at two Irish hospitals has found.

The authors have surveyed the families of almost all the 1,105 IVF babies born in Ireland since 1989. While the number with the brain disorders was tiny, the consultants have called for similar research to be carried out worldwide.

The two genetic disorders, Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS) and Angelman Syndrome (AS) are rare, occurring in about one in 15,000 births in the general population. But the study found they were almost three times more prevalent among IVF babies.

Cathy Allen, of Human Assisted Reproduction Ireland (Hari), at Dublin’s Rotunda hospital, and Professor William Reardon, a genetics expert in Crumlin children’s hospital, have also analysed data on the disorders worldwide. The results were published in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Allen said that while IVF is still regarded as entirely safe and a valuable solution for prospective parents having trouble conceiving, the discovery of a link between IVF and the two conditions must be investigated further.

BWS affects the physical development of a foetus, increasing the baby’s size, but also increases the risks of defects in the abdominal wall, low blood-sugar levels and of macroglossia, or oversized tongue.

In 1965, Harry Angelman, an English physician, first described three children with characteristics now known as the Angelman syndrome. He noted that they all had a stiff, jerky gait, excessive laughter and seizures. Other symptoms include mental retardation and poor balance.

“It’s not to deter any would-be parents from undergoing IVF, but it’s something that both they and anyone working in the field should know,” said Allen. “The idea is very new. That’s why we felt the need to put the study in an obstetrics journal. Geneticists are only coming to terms with it now.”

Their research included data from studies conducted on both human and animal subjects around the world over the past 20 years. The report concluded: “There are strong circumstantial observations that suggest a cause-and-effect relationship between assisted conception and clinical conditions caused by imprinting mutations.

“The absolute numbers of imprinting defects . . . are small and unlikely to deter any would-be patients from undergoing (assisted reproduction) treatments. Nevertheless the emerging data are of concern and highlight the need for further investigation.”

Since completing the report the authors surveyed most of the IVF children born in Ireland so far. “The problem is that the incidence of the conditions we’re talking about are very low anyway,” said Allen. “To do a study that looks for an increased incidence of something with IVF you’d really have to do a pan-European, multi-centre study in a prospective manner in order to see it, and we’re calling for that.

“We’ve just completed a questionnaire-based study, sent to all parents who successfully had a baby from IVF in the Hari unit, from 1989 to 2002. We asked all those parents to fill out a questionnaire looking for certain features of these imprinting defects, for specific symptoms that would be associated.”

Based on the replies, invitations were sent to some 40 children to attend a clinical examination. Only 22 attended, of whom four were given molecular genetics blood tests in the past few weeks.

One Irish couple in six has problems conceiving and about 4,000 couples undergo assisted reproductive treatments every year in Ireland’s fertility clinics. Ten years ago there was one such clinic in Ireland, at the Rotunda. Now there are six, according to the National Infertility Support and Information Group, with each charging about €3,500 per treatment.

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