Fertility Treatments May Shorten Fetus

Obie Editorial Team

Fertility treatments are the only answer for some couples who want to conceive, but cannot do so naturally. Some couples have luck with medications that promote egg maturation and release while other women need a more advanced intervention like IVF. While no one will debate the positive impact of fertility treatments on an infertile couple’s ability to conceive, the safety of fertility treatments is the topic of debate. A new study possibly proves another negative side effect of aided conception, but the side effect is something many couples would be willing to risk. 

Shorter Stature and Fertility Treatments
The topic of the study was not advanced fertility treatments. There have been others studies that proved these treatments actually resulted in taller children. Researchers wanted to know if there was a significant difference in children who were conceived naturally and those conceived with the use of drugs like Clomid as a standalone treatment for infertility. 

The study was small, only about 85 children were conceived with the use of a fertility medication without any other interventions. The other children in the study, slightly more than 250, were conceived without intervention of any kind. 

All study participants were full-term infants with no health conditions or pregnancy complications. There were no multiples in the study. While girls were affected by the fertility drug use – the effect in boys was a bit more noticeable. Boys who were conceived with the help of fertility drugs were about one inch shorter than boys conceived naturally. 

Researchers noted that health was not affected and all boys and girls in the study lived normal, healthy lives, stature was the only side effect of being conceived with the help of fertility drugs and if that is the only possible effect on a singlet pregnancy, we’re pretty sure couples will continue using Clomid and other pregnancy drugs to increase the chance of conception. 

Source: The study was presented at the Endocrine Society Meeting in Houston, Texas.