Children Conceived Through Certain Fertility Treatments May Be At Higher Risk For Cardiovascular Disease

“Shots” blog reports, “According to research published...in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, children conceived through certain infertility treatments may be at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.” Investigators arrived at this conclusion after “following the health of children conceived through assisted reproductive technology for more than a decade.” The research contributes “to a small but growing body of research suggesting that children conceived this way may have an elevated risk of hypertension and its health complications.” https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/19/648923906/do-ivf-and-other-infertility-tech-lead-to-health-risks-for-the-baby-maybe Scientists say they don't yet know why that would be true, but they hypothesize that epigenetics — the interplay of environment and genes — plays a role. Something about the manipulation of the eggs and sperm in the lab might affect which genes are turned on or off as embryos develop.