Three groups have shown an increased rate of ART conception in children with BWS. A retrospective case control study from Australia found a 1 in 4000 risk of BWS in their in-vitro population, several times higher than the general population. Another study found that children conceived by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) are three to four times more likely to develop the condition. No specific type of ART has been more closely associated with BWS. The mechanism by which ART produces this effect is still under investigation. Epidemiology
Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome has an estimated incidence of one in 13,700; about 300 children with BWS are born each year in the United States. The exact incidence of BWS is unknown because of the marked variability in the syndromes presentation and difficulties with diagnosis. The number of reported infants born with BWS is  most likely low because many are born with BWS, but have clinical features that are less prominent and therefore missed. BWS has been documented in a variety of ethnic groups and occurs equally in males and females.Children conceived through In vitro fertilization have a three to fourfold increased chance of developing Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome. It is thought that this is due to genes being turned on or off by the IVF procedures. History
In the 1960s, Dr. John Bruce Beckwith, an American pathologist and Dr. Hans-Rudolf Wiedemann, a German pediatrician, independently reported cases of a proposed new syndrome.
Originally termed EMG syndrome (for exomphalos, macroglossia, and gigantism), this syndrome over time became known as Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome or Wiedemann Beckwith syndrome. Originally, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Wiedemann (born 16 February 1915, Bremen, Germany, died 4 August 2006, Kiel) coined the term exomphalos-macroglossia-gigantism (EMG) syndrome to describe the combination of congenital abdominal wall defects as hernia (exomphalos), large tongues (macroglossia), and large bodies and/or long limbs (gigantism). Over time, this constellation was renamed Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome following the autoptical observations of Prof. John Bruce Beckwith (born 18 September 1933, Spokane, Washington), who also observed a severe increase in the size of the adrenal glands in some of these patients. See also
Perlman syndrome

References
Further reading
GeneReview/UW/NIH entry on Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome


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