Parent Perspective on Childhood Development after Assisted Reproductive Technology: A National Survey

Context: There is limited understanding about parent perspectives of newborn development after assisted reproductive technology (ART). The use of ART is known to increase the risk of premature delivery and low birth weight. Both of these factors are associated with developmental delay. To our knowledge, no study has investigated how parents perceive their child's development after use of ART.

Aims: To investigate how the parent perspective of childhood development after ART use compares to the parent perspective of spontaneously conceived children.

Settings and design: This is a digital survey collecting data on parent perspective of newborn development after ART and spontaneous conception.

Subjects and methods: Invitation to participate was sent via E-mail to users of a (Ovia Health's) mobile parenting application (Ovia Parenting). Surveys were collected from August 30, 2018, to September 12, 2018, and a total of 1881 surveys were collected.

Statistical analysis used: Analysis was performed with Chi-square cross-tabulations and ANOVA.

Results: Overall, 13,600 (12%) of users who were delivered the E-mail engaged with the content. Of those users, 2739 (20%) initiated the survey and 1881 (69%) completed the survey and were included in the analyses. When comparing spontaneous conception to ART, parents reported similar developmental milestones at most ages. A significant difference existed at 12 months where those who had used ART were more likely to report their child met all milestones. This difference did not persist for subsequent ages.

Conclusions: From the parent perspective, children conceived using ART methods should be expected to meet the same age-based developmental milestones as their spontaneously conceived peers.