A comparative cohort study for detecting the incidence of trisomy 21 in ART and non-ART neonates

One of the most important points concerning the patients who undergo assisted reproductive techniques (ART) for getting pregnant can be the possible neonatal chromosomal abnormalities as a result of these methods.

This study was conducted to help answering a part of this question.

This is a historical cohort study from April 2006 to April 2007. Data were collected from women admitted in Mehregan Hospital and Esfahan Infertility Center. 225 of 2000 infertile women who had taken ART methods and 225 of 1800 women undergoing no ART treatment were included in our study. All of the cases were aged 35 or more. Data were obtained from patient files from 2 infertility centers of Isfahan, Iran.

Chromosomal analysis was successfully performed for all clinically suspicious infants for trisobmy 21. As a result, 4 cases of trisomy 21 in ART group and 7 in non-ART group were found. Two cases from IUI, 1 case of IVF and 1 of ICSI were found to have trisomy 21 in infants. There was no statistically difference in occurring trisomy 21 in our two groups of study and this was also the same for women undergoing IVF and ICSI.

ART methods did not increase the rate of Trisomy 21 according to our study although we found less in ART group, it was not statistically significant.