Introduction:

Pregnancies resulting from assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been documented to have a higher risk of adverse effects.

Objective:

To provide evidence on obstetric and perinatal complications associated with conceptions by ART versus spontaneous pregnancies.

Method:

Comprehensive review of original articles published between 2010 and 2018 addressing the most common obstetric and perinatal complications in pregnancies resulting from in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in comparison with spontaneous conceptions.

Results:

Thirty-seven original articles, which reported on 26 cohort studies and 11 case-control trials, were included. IVF and ICSI conceptions were associated with a larger number of obstetric and perinatal complications such as low birth weight, prematurity, low weight for gestational age, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, congenital malformations, C-section and premature rupture of membranes, among others.

Conclusions:

Pregnancies by ART are associated with an increased risk of obstetric and perinatal complications in comparison with spontaneous conceptions. Further research is needed to determine which aspects result in higher risk.