The BBC reports today that new research has shown that IVF babies born from frozen embryos are heavier and result in longer pregnancies than those born from fresh embryos.
A study presented at the British Fertility Society annual meeting says transferring frozen embryos may lead to healthier babies. But the reasons behind the findings are unclear, the researchers say.
The BBC report that the study, carried out at the Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health in London, involved measuring the weight and length of gestation of 384 babies born after fresh embryo transfer and 108 born after frozen embryo transfer.
Freezing embryos enables couples to have several cycles of IVF with eggs collected during one round of treatment. By freezing some embryos, couples can use up their fresh ones before moving on to frozen ones at a later date.
The results of the study showed that babies born from frozen embryos were, on average, 253g (0.56lb) heavier than those born from fresh embryos.
“This means that resulting babies may potentially be healthier if frozen embryos are transferred rather than fresh embryos” Suzanne Cawood Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health.
The proportion of low birthweight babies (weighing less than 2.5kg) was also lower in this group – 3.7%, compared with 10.7% of babies born from fresh embryos. Frozen embryo babies typically had a longer gestation period (an average of 0.65 weeks longer) than those born from fresh embryos, the research also found.
