title: The pregnancy health and birth outcomes of women who underwent assisted reproductive technology: Results of a national survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is an upward trend for parents to resort to assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment due to delayed childbirth or birth difficulties.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study investigates the pregnancy health and birth outcomes of women who underwent ART and analyzes the factors that influence birth weight to become<10 percentile when undergoing ART.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study analyzed results of the first wave of the Taiwan Birth Cohort study. Through stratified systematic sampling, 24,200 mother-and-child sampling pairs were obtained from a total of 206,741 live births in Taiwan in 2005; 366 of the babies were born with the use of ART.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During pregnancy, mothers who used ART suffered from higher risks of complication than the natural conception counterparts, including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), and placenta previa. Additionally, babies born through ART had poorer outcomes than the natural conception groups: the low birth weight (<2500g) was 33.1% compared to 6.4% for babies born naturally.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pregnancy health and birth outcomes of women who underwent ART were worse than those who got natural conception. Types of maternal complication among ART women included GDM, PIH, and placenta previa. Having multiple births was the most important factor that causes low birth weight in babies. The results of this study can be used as a reference for the health and care of mothers and babies who use ART.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. ; Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Lii-Shung
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University and Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. ; Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Hospital, Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chi-Hwa
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. ; Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shu-Hsin
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Bih-Ching
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: For-Wey
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Lung
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. ; Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Pyng
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wei-Ya
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yen-Chiao
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yen-Ju
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hui-Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Chih
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. ; Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Hospital, Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Meng-Chih
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Assisted reproduction technology (ART); Birth outcome; Pregnancy health; Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS)