Children conceived by IVF just as intelligent as naturally born peers

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Children conceived by IVF are just as intelligent as their naturally born peers, according to new research.

Babies born using this method showed no disadvantages in brainpower or academic ability at primary school, scientists said.

Previously it was thought that IVF children might have struggled to catch up with their naturally conceived peers at primary school.

The findings are based on an analysis of data on over 400,000 youngsters in Australia - one of the biggest studies of its kind.

Dr. Amber Kennedy, of the University of Melbourne and the lead author of the study, said: "The school-age developmental and educational outcomes for children conceived by IVF are equivalent to those of spontaneously conceived children

"These findings provide important reassurance for current and prospective parents and for clinicians."

More than eight in 10 couples conceive naturally within a year of trying.

Couples who have unsuccessfully been trying to conceive can access a limited number of treatments on the NHS such as IVF, when a fertilized egg is inserted into the womb.

Around 400,000 babies in the UK have been born via IVF since 1991, while there have been more than a million in the US. The annual rate has tripled in the last three decades.

In the latest study, researchers examined health records of hundreds of thousands of naturally conceived children born in the state of Victoria between 2005 and 2014 as well as 11,059 conceived via IVF.

Between the ages of four and six they were assessed for physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, communication skills and general knowledge.

Three years later, aged seven to nine, they were scored across five domains - grammar and punctuation, reading, writing, spelling and numeracy.

No significant differences in outcomes were identified. This was after accounting for gender, age at assessment, language background other than English, socio-economic status, maternal age, parity and education.

Previous research has suggested IVF-children are more likely to struggle in the classroom.

More than eight million children have been conceived globally with the assistance of IVF.

Kennedy said: "Some studies suggest these children have an increased risk of congenital abnormalities, autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay and intellectual disability.

"Educational and school-age developmental outcomes following IVF conception have not yet been adequately characterised."

In Australia, it is now estimated that 1 in 20 babies are born following IVF conception. As numbers rise a deeper understanding of the long-term implications for these children is important.

Kennedy said: "We found no effect of IVF conception on developmental vulnerability at school entry in Victorian children.

"Additionally, IVF-conceived children performed as well as their spontaneously conceived peers in school-based psychometric testing at age seven to nine years.

"For the first time, our study has estimated the causal effect of IVF conception on global childhood development at school entry and educational outcomes at primary school."

She added: "This analysis has demonstrated that there is no causal effect with in the population studied of IVF conception on early childhood developmental vulnerability and school age educational outcomes.

"Compared with spontaneously conceived children, children conceived by IVF were no more likely to be developmentally vulnerable at school entry and had equivalent numeracy and literacy performance by age seven to nine years.

"These findings provide important reassurance for current and prospective parents and their treating clinicians."

The study is published in the journal PLoS Medicine.