According to a study performed by the researchers in Turkey, it was revealed that women who give birth to babies conceived by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) are three-times more likely to have a common digestive condition than those who conceive naturally.

Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a common condition in which acid from the stomach travels up into the oesophagus and causes heartburn, regurgitation and pain when swallowing. In women who conceive using IVF, researchers found that those who had IVF are at increased risk of experiencing long-term symptoms of GORD.

To study this, the researchers compared two groups of women who had given birth to their first child at least 1 year earlier. Totally they interviewed 156 first-time mothers, of whom 54 had twins and 102 had single babies at least one year earlier after IVF treatment and collected data on their pregnancies and any GORD symptoms experienced using a validated reflux questionnaire.

They found that, prevalence of GORD at the time of data collection was found to be 13.5 per cent in the group of women who had received IVF when compared with just 4.5 per cent in the group of women who had conceived naturally.  In the IVF group, the prevalence of GORD was slightly higher in women who gave birth to twins (14.8 per cent) compared with those who gave birth to single babies (12.7 per cent), but the difference was not statistically significant.

The study was published in the United European Gastroenterology Journal.

By Lizitha