THE INCREASED RISK OF COMPLICATION OBSERVED IN SINGLETON PREGNANCIES RESULTING FROM IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION (IVF) DOES NOT SEEM TO BE RELATED TO THE IVF METHOD ITSELF

Singleton pregnancies resulting from in-vitro fertilization (IVF) seem to have an increased risk of obstetric and paediatric complications. In a retrospective study we compared, during the same period, 162 IVF singleton pregnancies with 263 pregnancies resulting from stimulated c ycles (without IVF) and with 5096 natural pregnancies. No significant difference was found between the first two groups concerning complicat ions (i.e. prematurity, low birthweight, small-for-gestational-age and perinatal mortality). The results indicate that an adverse outcome is more common for pregnancies after ovarian stimulation (with or withou t IVF) compared to natural pregnancies. Therefore the increased risk d oes not appear to be linked to the IVF method itself but rather to a c ommon factor in these two populations, i.e. population characteristics , underlying infertile status and/or ovarian stimulation.