Health of children born after ovulation induction

Objective: To study the health of children born after ovulation induction (OI).

Design: Nationwide register-based study.

Setting: The OI children were followed up to the age of 4 years and compared with other children.

Patient(s): The OI children (N = 4,467). Two control groups: all other children (excluding children born after IVF, N = 190,398) and a random sample of those children (n = 26,877).

Intervention(s): Ovulation induction treatment in ordinary practice.

Main outcome measure(s): Mortality rates and adjusted odds ratios for perinatal outcomes, hospitalizations, health-related benefits, and long-term medication use.

Result(s): A total of 12% of OI and 2% of control children were multiples. Even after stratifying for multiplicity and adjusting for the available confounding factors (region, smoking, maternal age, socioeconomic position, and parity for perinatal health and mother's socioeconomic position for other indicators), most indicators showed worse health among OI children compared with control children. The OI children had poorer perinatal health and more episodes of long hospitalization than the control children. Singleton OI children had more long-term illnesses in childhood, as measured by child disability allowance, long-term medication use, and hospital care episodes.

Conclusion(s): Either OI treatment or the reasons for the treatment increase the risk of health problems in early childhood.