Children who are born from women with some level of infertility are at a higher risk for psychiatric disorders compared to children who were naturally conceived.

According to the World Health Organization, global statistics of infertility are difficult to determine, as the rate is affected by both male and female factors.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen, led by Dr. Allan Jensen of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center at UC, derived their findings from a register of all children born between 1969 and 2006 in Denmark. They looked at 2,430,826 children, five percent of whom were born to women with fertility issues. The children were then monitored for psychiatric disorders up to 2009.

During the follow-up time period, 170,240 children were found to have been treated for a psychiatric disorder. Children who were born to women who received fertility treatments had a 33 percent higher risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, which is considered to be statistically significant.

Despite the fact that the study was extremely large in size, it’s not entirely known if the psychiatric disorders are the result of the actual infertility or from the treatment itself.

“It is generally believed that underlying infertility has a more important role in adverse effects in the offspring than the treatment procedures. It is known, for example, that psychiatric disorders to some degree have a genetic component. It is perhaps thus likely that that these damaged genes coding for psychiatric diseases are overrepresented in women with fertility problems, and, if transferred to their offspring, this may at least partly explain the increased risk of psychiatric diseases,” said Dr. Jensen in a statement.