Are IVF drugs safe?

The first IVF baby was born 40 years ago, and since then over 8 million children have been born worldwide with this technology. These children and their parents have been leading normal lives, and there are very few reported complications from IVF, so IVF is not dangerous.

However, ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a rare complication of IVF drugs that can be potential fatal.

The available data suggests the incidence of OHSS is:

1. Mild OHSS – 20%–33% of the cases but since it only causes mild discomfort, nausea, or diarrhea in the patient, it is not considered a serious threat.
2. Moderate degree – 3%–6% of IVF cases
3. Severe OHSS – 0.1%–2% of cycles

Data collected between 2006 and 2014 shows that while IVF numbers have gone up, the number of women seeking emergency care for OHSS has significantly reduced.

Do IVF drugs have long term effects?

ART is only a 40-year-old industry and data is limited but from what we have available today, there does not seem to be any major long-term risk to IVF patients.

Alan Penzias, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who chairs the practice committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), says he has been “reasonably reassured” that the drugs used in ART pose no long-term threat to the patient’s health.

“We’re at a time point when, if there were anything major, we would have seen it by now,” he said. “Fortunately, we haven’t seen anything negative.”