Non-reproductive heritable disorders in infertile couples and their first degree relatives

The genetic safety of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) remains a mat ter of continuing debate. One source of concern is the limited knowledge ab out the general genetic constitution and background of patients who need so phisticated reproductive technology to procreate. It has been postulated th at such individuals could be carriers of genetic lesions that might result in an increased prevalence of heritable disorders among their offspring, To investigate this issue, we determined the frequency of potentially heritab le non-reproductive diseases in 621 infertile couples and their first degre e relatives. A total of 1302 fertile couples who underwent genetic counsell ing prior to prenatal diagnosis served as controls, The infertile patients had a slightly higher prevalence of potentially heritable non-reproductive disorders ('significant genetic risk factors') than the controls (1.9 versu s 0.9%; P = 0.015). In contrast, such diseases were less prevalent in their families than in the fertile couples' families. Our data do not support th e hypothesis that their familial genetic background predisposes children bo rn after ICSI to malformations or other non reproductive genetic diseases.