title: I was born following ART: how will I get on at school?
abstract: With an ever-expanding population of children born after in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), the widespread use of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) has placed a great emphasis on the need to study their long-term outcomes. Indeed, there has been concern that mechanisms used in ART may have a detrimental effect on the neurocognitive development of these children. Reassuringly, most neurocognitive and motor development studies using various assessment scales have generally found no differences between intracytoplasmic sperm injection, IVF and naturally conceived children. Only a few studies have reported concerns. In terms of predictors of intelligence in children, ART appears to have a minimal effect in comparison to birth weight, gestational age, socio-economic status, and parental educational levels. Nevertheless, further research of higher methodological quality in children beyond pre-school age and on newer ART procedures is needed.
authors.affiliation: General and Adolescent Paediatric Unit, Institute of Child Health, London, UK. Electronic address: o.abdel-mannan@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abdel-Mannan
authors.affiliation: General and Adolescent Paediatric Unit, Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
authors.forename: Alastair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sutcliffe
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000209:etiology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000009:adverse effects*
keywords: Assisted reproductive techniques; Children; In-vitro fertilisation; Intracytoplasmic sperm injection; Neurodevelopmental outcome