IVF Increases Risk of Blood Clots During First Three Months of Pregnancy

While in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a massive boon for couples who are struggling to have children, a team of Swedish researchers has found that the procedure may come with risks of its own. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that women who undergo IVF treatment have a higher risk of suffering blood clots and pulmonary embolisms, a blockage of a major artery in the lungs, during the first trimester of their pregnancy.

Researchers led by Peter Henriksson analyzed the health records of more than 23,400 women who had undergone IVF treatment and compared them with the health records of over 116,000 who had normal pregnancies.

The researchers found that on an average, around 4.2 women of 1,000 women who underwent IVF were diagnosed with venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared to 2.5 women per 1,000 among the normal pregnancies. The study has been published in the British Medical Journal.

Source-Medindia