A prospective longitudinal study of the physical, psychomotor, and intellectual development of singleton children up to 5 years who were conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection compared with children conceived spontaneously and by in vitro fertilization.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the somatic, psychomotor, and intellectual development of children conceived through intracytoplasmic single sperm injection (ICSI) over the whole preschool period.


METHODS
Prospective, controlled, cohort study.


METHODS
Fertility clinic in Brussels, Belgium.


METHODS
Sixty-six ICSI-conceived children prospectively compared with 52 IVF-conceived and 59 spontaneously conceived children. All children were full-term singletons.


METHODS
Home visits by a trained psychologist. Standardized interviews. Assessments using the revised Brunet-Lézine scale and the revised Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence.


METHODS
Physical growth and general health. Formal developmental and intellectual assessments.


RESULTS
Children conceived by ICSI were healthy: no significant differences appeared in the incidence of combined congenital malformations (11.3%), health problems (44.1%), surgical interventions (18.6%), and hospitalizations (6.8%), nor for the developmental assessments (mean developmental quotient at 9 months: 93.9; at 18 months: 102.0). For the intellectual assessments, the between-group differences disappeared when adjusted for levels of parental education (mean intelligence quotient at 3 years: 97.0; at 5 years: 103.3).


CONCLUSIONS
This pilot study shows that throughout the preschool period, ICSI-conceived children have psychomotor and intellectual development similar to that of IVF-conceived and spontaneously conceived children. These conclusions need to be confirmed by multicenter studies.
Place
Isabelle
I
Research Laboratory on Human Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, French Speaking Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium. iplace@ulb.ac.be
Englert
Yvon
Y
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001724:Birth Weight; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome