A survey of about 92,000 children in four countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – conducted by Danish researchers showed that babies born through assisted reproductive technologies were about as healthy as those born naturally, with no difference in the likelihood of preterm birth, low birth weight, stillbirth and premature death. Assisted reproductive technologies include in vitro fertilization and in vivo artificial insemination techniques. Researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark report in the new issue of the British journal Human Reproduction that they investigated 62,000 singleton babies and nearly 30,000 twin babies born through assisted reproduction techniques in the four countries mentioned above between 1988 and 2007, and compared their data with 362,000 singleton babies and 123,000 natural births during the same period twin babies over the same period. Henningsson, the expert who led the study, said, “We found that the risk of babies being born prematurely has been decreasing for 20 years. Among babies born through assisted reproductive technology, the rates of low or low birth weight, stillbirth and premature death have also been declining.” The report notes that the level of expertise in hospitals and clinics dedicated to dealing with infertility has increased as technology has evolved and experience has been gained. Many factors have led to healthier newborns born through assisted reproductive technologies. In addition, hospitals in the Nordic countries tend to transfer only one successfully fertilized embryo to the mother, and doing so not only reduces the probability of multiple births, but also positively affects the health of the newborn. Henningsen said that if multiple embryos are transferred to the mother during a single IVF procedure, even if only one baby is eventually born, it can have a negative impact on the health of that newborn. Commenting on the above study, Requeña, an expert at the Valencia Institute of Infertility in Spain, said that with regard to assisted reproduction techniques, “we can rest assured. There is no difference between children born through these techniques and those born naturally in terms of malformations, premature births and low birth weight.”