Children conceived through infertility treatments may have similar growth compared to naturally conceived children

1. After accounting for plurality, children conceived through infertility treatments showed similar growth trajectories to those conceived naturally.

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

Compared to children conceived naturally, children conceived through medically assisted reproduction (MAR) may experience different birth outcomes and growth patterns. However, evidence on long-term growth trajectories remains inconsistent. This study thus compared childhood growth trajectories from birth to 12 years of age between children conceived via infertility treatments and those conceived naturally. This retrospective cohort study analyzed data of children from 6 months to 12 years of age in the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study. The main outcomes were growth trajectories for weight, height, and body mass index (BMI). Methods of conception were categorized as natural conception (NC), intrauterine insemination (IUI), or in vitro fertilization (IVF). This study included 20,507 singletons (20,306 via NC, 104 via IUI, 97 via IVF) and 950 multiples (670 NC, 212 IVF, 68 IUI). In the pooled analysis, children conceived via IUI or IVF showed lower weight, height, and BMI compared to children conceived naturally. However, these differences were attributed to the higher proportion of multiple births in the infertility treatment groups. After stratifying by plurality, the associations were no longer significant, except for slightly lower weight (−0.353 kg; p = 0.039) among IUI-conceived multiples. Overall, this study found that after accounting for plurality, children conceived through infertility treatments showed similar growth trajectories to those conceived naturally. These findings provide reassurance for families using infertility treatments and highlight the need to minimize multiple births following MAR to optimize child health outcomes.

Click here to read this study in PLOS One

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