Comprehensive Health Assessment of School-Age Children Conceived by Assisted Reproductive Technology: A Prospective Cohort Follow-Up Study

Objective: To assess the comprehensive health status of school-age children conceived through assisted reproductive technology (ART) compared to that of those conceived naturally.

Design: A prospective cohort study of children conceived through ART.

Setting: First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, China.

Population sample: One hundred school-age children were enrolled and followed up (51 conceived via ART and 49 naturally conceived (controls)).

Methods: A comprehensive health status assessment was performed in children aged 6-12 years, including anthropometric measurements, glucose-lipid metabolism, echocardiography, intelligence, behaviour, vision and hearing. Multivariate regression models were used to adjust for sociodemographic and perinatal covariates.

Main outcome measures: Comprehensive health status of children conceived via ART.

Results: Children conceived by ART had similar height, weight, blood pressure, blood glucose and lipid profiles compared to the controls. Echocardiography showed similar cardiac geometric morphology and left/right ventricular diastolic-systolic function between the two groups. ART children had lower carotid intima-media thickness than controls (0.52 ± 0.11 vs. 0.58 ± 0.11). Visual acuity, hearing and intellectual and behavioural assessments were similar. An alternating covering test for the eyes showed a higher incidence of abnormal eye movement in the ART group than in the control group (87.76% vs. 68.89%).

Conclusions: The similar overall health status of ART- and naturally conceived children is reassuring for those receiving ART. However, our study shows a possible increase in the incidence of latent exotropia among ART children. Long-term follow-up is warranted to assess the overall health status associated with ART throughout the lifespan.