A study of more than 400,000 children, which included over 11,000 conceived using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), has found no link between IVF conception and negative school-age childhood development outcomes.
The study involved collaboration between three major IVF units in Victoria – Melbourne IVF, Monash IVF and City Fertility Centre. It incorporated data on children born between 2005 and 2013.
Published last week in PLOS Medicine, the study led by Dr Amber Kennedy and Dr Anthea Lindquist assessed childhood developmental and educational outcomes using the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) and the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a University of Melbourne (UoM) press release said.
“We found no difference in performance across the five domains of the AEDC, nor in NAPLAN scores, between children who were born after IVF-assisted conception and those who were conceived without assistance,” Dr Kennedy said.
“Some concerning evidence has previously suggested that IVF-conceived children may have poorer school-aged outcomes compared with their spontaneously conceived peers. However, our comprehensive analysis of this massive dataset has found this not to be the case.
“Our findings will provide important reassurance for clinicians and for current and future parents of IVF-conceived children.”
UoM said conception via IVF was common and increasing, with more than eight million babies born worldwide using the technology, with five per cent of children in Australia now conceived via IVF.
“The AEDC is conducted every three years and assesses children in their first year of schooling (age four to six years) across five developmental domains. NAPLAN is conducted annually, and assesses educational outcomes at different school ages. Grade three NAPLAN results were analysed for this study,” UoM said.
