(dailyRx News) When a couple has trouble conceiving, they may use infertility treatments to get pregnant. New research suggests there could be a connection between these treatments and childhood asthma.
The study found that children born to parents who sought treatment for fertility issues were more likely to experience asthma, wheezing and to be taking asthma medication at the age of 5 than children who were conceived without medical intervention.
The researchers did not find that the parents’ infertility treatments caused asthma in their children, but rather that there is a slightly higher chance that children born after fertility treatments might develop asthma. More research is needed to better understand the link.
Claire Carson, PhD, a researcher at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford (UK), and colleagues led the study to find out if there was a link between parents’ infertility treatments and the likelihood that their children would develop asthma.
The study authors used data from a larger study called the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to perform their research. The MCS has followed over 18,000 children in the United Kingdom born between 2000 and 2002.
The children were recruited into the MCS at nine months of age. Interviews were performed with their caretakers to get demographic information. Health data for both parents and children was also gathered, including information about the pregnancy and any infertility treatment. Read full article.