Frozen better than fresh

Clearly, we’re not talking about food. We’re talking about human embryos. Well, some people are.

So there’s a report of a new study that claims that babies born from frozen embryos are healthier than those born from fresh embryos. In either case, we’re talking about IVF.

But an interesting bit of information is volunteered by one of the experts:

Dr Anja Pinborg, from the Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, who led the study, said: “Most encouragingly, we found no increased risk of congenital malformations in the FER group; the rate in this group was 7.1 per cent compared to 8.8 per cent where fresh embryos had been used.

“We think the reason for the differences is probably positive selection of the embryos for frozen embryo replacement.

“Only the very top quality embryos survive the freezing and thawing process.

“And you only get pregnancies in patients with lots of good embryos to freeze.”

I checked with an expert because these numbers seemed a bit high compared to normal (non IVF) pregnancies. And my hunch was right.

She pointed out that in the US, the Centers for Disease Control state “one in every 33 babies”  (i.e. 3%) has a birth defect.  This would probably include conditions like inverted nipples that are typically not considered ‘congenital malformations’–so the number of such malformations would probably be smaller.

If we wanted to be more accurate, we would factor in the rates for multiple births since IVF pregnancies have a much higher rate of multiple pregnancies.

Still, the rate is significantly higher and ought to give cause for concern.