09/04/2023
Artificial insemination is suspected of having a detrimental effect on the heart and circulatory system. A Scandinavian-British study analyzed the health data of around 2.5 million women – and found no evidence that fertility treatments affected cardiovascular health.
dr Maria Magnus from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and her multinational team examined whether and to what extent the cardiovascular risk increases after fertility treatment. To do this, they collected data from the health registers of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
For the period from 1984 to 2015, the research team found around 2.5 million mothers, of whom 97,474 had given birth after fertility treatment. Medical data – any cardiovascular disease was collected up to August 2022. The researchers took into account diseases of the coronary arteries, the heart muscle, heart failure (heart failure), stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and heart attack (myocardial infarction).
No significant differences after natural and artificial insemination
The mean follow-up period for the women was 11 years. The researchers also considered other risk factors such as age, number of births, diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome, diabetes and chronic high blood pressure.
The average age of the mothers without fertility treatment was 29.1 years. The average age of the mothers after fertility treatment was 33.8 years. There was no significant difference in the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, there was a trend towards a modest reduction in the risk of heart attack in women after successful artificial insemination.
The research team concludes from the results that women after fertility treatment (ICSI, IVF, fresh/frozen embryo transfer) do not have an increased cardiovascular risk in the short and medium term – compared to women who became pregnant naturally. Only long-term studies can show whether fertility treatment increases the cardiovascular risk in the long term – i.e. only after decades.
Source: Magnus MC, Fraser A, Håberg SE, Rönö K, Romundstad LB, Bergh C, Spangmose AL, Pinborg A, Gissler M, Wennerholm UB, Åsvold BO, Lawlor DA, Opdahl S. Maternal Risk of Cardiovascular Disease After Use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies. JAMA Cardiol. 2023 Aug 9:e232324. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2023.2324. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37556134; PMCID: PMC10413220.