Children born through assisted reproductive technologies, vulnerable to hypertension

Turns out, that children who are born with the help of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) are more vulnerable to developing arterial hypertension in their formative years.

Researchers at the University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland confirmed that the most common form of ART In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) intracytoplasmic sperm injection, can expose the gamete and embryo to a variety of environmental factors before implantation.

Developed in 1978, assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has helped millions of individuals and families who are unable to conceive naturally. Currently, six million people residing in the world have been conceived using ART.

Through a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, researchers discovered that ART adolescents had both a higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than the control participants of natural conception at 119/71 mmHg versus 115/69, respectively.

"The increased prevalence of arterial hypertension in ART participants is what is most concerning," said a lead researcher Emrush Rexhaj.

"There is growing evidence that ART alters the blood vessels in children, but the long-term consequences were not known. We now know that this places ART children at six times higher rate of hypertension than children conceived naturally," Rexhaj added.

"Early study, detection, and treatment of ART-conceived individuals may be the appropriate course of preventative action," said another researcher Larry A. Weinrauch.

He suggested that early lifestyle-based modifications should be put into action as an increase in blood pressure is a concern when it comes to children conceived through ART.

The study appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.