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Fertility drug effects on children to be studied here
Nov 30, 2010 10:50 am
ALBANY - Cathleen Crowley of the Albany Times Union has a story this morning about a new study about the safety of fertility treatments that will involve thousands of infants in the great Capitol region as researchers from the University at Albany and the state Department of Health work with 6,500 babies and their mothers in upstate New York for one of the largest studies of its kind. The project, dubbed "Upstate Kids," will determine whether treatments for infertility cause developmental problems, including cerebral palsy, autism, blindness, hearing impairments and neurological deficits. Researchers will also look at the effects of environmental exposures to substances such as PCBs, pesticides and Bisphenol-A.
About a quarter of the babies in the study were conceived with the help of fertility treatments, and 75 percent of the higher-order births (triplets or higher) used in vitro fertilization. More than 1,000 sets of twins and 46 sets of triplets or higher are enrolled in the study, which is being conducted in partnership with researchers at National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, is funded by a four-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
"As a mother, I hope we will not find associations," said Erin Bell, an epidemiologist at UAlbany's School of Public Health and a principal researcher on Upstate Kids. "As a scientist, if we do, it gives us a clue about what we can do for interventions."
About a quarter of the babies in the study were conceived with the help of fertility treatments, and 75 percent of the higher-order births (triplets or higher) used in vitro fertilization.
More than 1,000 sets of twins and 46 sets of triplets or higher are enrolled in the study.
"Multiples, because of their risk of being born pre-terms, are at higher risk for development delays and other developmental effects," Bell said.
Smaller studies have shown an increase in birth defects and developmental delays -- although not autism -- among IVF children, Bell said.
"The smaller studies are very informative, but they are not definitive," said professor Lawrence Schell, a human biologist at UAlbany's School of Public Health. Schell is a colleague of Bell's, but not an investigator on the study.
"The Upstate Kids project is fantastic because it is broad and it is deep," he said. "It is broad in the extent of the environmental factors it is considering as influences on childhood growth and development, and at the same time it is following kids for several years."
Those environmental factors include the mother's age, reproductive history, use of fertility treatments and exposure to toxins.
"The fertility issue is a big one because there are so many more women who are using some kind of assisted reproductive technology," Schell said. "If these technologies are associated with a greater or lesser risk of some developmental problems, we need to know that."
Throughout the study, mothers will run simple screening tests on their children to assess their growth, development, and social and motor skills. A unique part of this project is that children who have developmental problems will get treatment and therapy.
The families have also agreed to allow the researchers to use the blood sample from the newborn's heel stick -- mandatory blood tests done in the hospital to check for specific diseases -- to test for the presence of environmental toxins that may have been passed on to the infant.
The study, which is being conducted in partnership with researchers at National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, is funded by a four-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The project has enough funding to follow the children until age 3. Studying the children at school age would allow researchers to better assess the behavior and ability to speak, but Bell said she wouldn't mind seeing them into adulthood.
"We'd like to follow them for as long as we can," Bell said.
About a quarter of the babies in the study were conceived with the help of fertility treatments, and 75 percent of the higher-order births (triplets or higher) used in vitro fertilization. More than 1,000 sets of twins and 46 sets of triplets or higher are enrolled in the study, which is being conducted in partnership with researchers at National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, is funded by a four-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
"As a mother, I hope we will not find associations," said Erin Bell, an epidemiologist at UAlbany's School of Public Health and a principal researcher on Upstate Kids. "As a scientist, if we do, it gives us a clue about what we can do for interventions."
About a quarter of the babies in the study were conceived with the help of fertility treatments, and 75 percent of the higher-order births (triplets or higher) used in vitro fertilization.
More than 1,000 sets of twins and 46 sets of triplets or higher are enrolled in the study.
"Multiples, because of their risk of being born pre-terms, are at higher risk for development delays and other developmental effects," Bell said.
Smaller studies have shown an increase in birth defects and developmental delays -- although not autism -- among IVF children, Bell said.
"The smaller studies are very informative, but they are not definitive," said professor Lawrence Schell, a human biologist at UAlbany's School of Public Health. Schell is a colleague of Bell's, but not an investigator on the study.
"The Upstate Kids project is fantastic because it is broad and it is deep," he said. "It is broad in the extent of the environmental factors it is considering as influences on childhood growth and development, and at the same time it is following kids for several years."
Those environmental factors include the mother's age, reproductive history, use of fertility treatments and exposure to toxins.
"The fertility issue is a big one because there are so many more women who are using some kind of assisted reproductive technology," Schell said. "If these technologies are associated with a greater or lesser risk of some developmental problems, we need to know that."
Throughout the study, mothers will run simple screening tests on their children to assess their growth, development, and social and motor skills. A unique part of this project is that children who have developmental problems will get treatment and therapy.
The families have also agreed to allow the researchers to use the blood sample from the newborn's heel stick -- mandatory blood tests done in the hospital to check for specific diseases -- to test for the presence of environmental toxins that may have been passed on to the infant.
The study, which is being conducted in partnership with researchers at National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, is funded by a four-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The project has enough funding to follow the children until age 3. Studying the children at school age would allow researchers to better assess the behavior and ability to speak, but Bell said she wouldn't mind seeing them into adulthood.
"We'd like to follow them for as long as we can," Bell said.