Abstract
[Truncated abstract] Background and Aims: Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) have undergone rapid development since the birth of the first IVF baby, in 1978. Studies evaluating the safety of ART have lagged far behind rapidly changing laboratory techniques and are largely limited to short‐term health outcomes that can be assessed at or close to the time of birth. Western Australia (WA) is the only State in Australia with a statutory Reproductive Technology Register (RTR), and one of only a few places in the world with the infrastructure for routine population‐based data linkage. Linkage of data from the RTR to other health registers allows for long‐term follow‐up of ART births and comparison of health outcomes with all other non‐ ART births in the population. The publication of an earlier study using data from these registers showed that Western Australian ART infants had a two‐fold increased risk of birth defects compared with non‐ART infants. These results generated much discussion in the ART literature with clinicians stating that national ART registers reported much lower birth defect prevalence rates and that other studies had not found an increased birth defect risk following ART. The main aims of this thesis were to systematically review and pool the results of the literature comparing birth defects in ART and non‐ART infants; to compare the prevalence of birth defects in WA‐born ART infants identified through record linkage to the WA Register of Developmental Anomalies with the prevalence of birth defects reported to the national Australian ART Register by WA IVF clinicians; and finally, to compare the prevalence of birth defects, perinatal outcomes and hospital admission in the total population of ART and non‐ART births in Western Australia from 1994 to 2002. Methods: Systematic review of the ART birth defects literature. Systematic review of the ART literature was carried out in March 2003 and again, almost 10 years later,
Original language | English |
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Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
Publication status | Unpublished - 2013 |