Select Page

Home » ART Babies Develop the Same as Other Babies

ART Babies Develop the Same as Other Babies

Fertility Articles, Fertility Blog

Every parent thinks about what their child will be like when they get older, no matter how their child was conceived. For those parents who successfully used assisted reproductive technology (ART) comes reassuring news – there appears to be no difference in cognitive development and academic performance for their children compared to kids spontaneously conceived.

While there are still few long-term studies examining whether children conceived through ART perform differently in school than their peers, results from two large studies confirm that in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is safe over the long-term with no negative effect on cognitive development.

One robust study showing comparable development included every child conceived by ART and born in Denmark between 1995 and 2000 (a total of 8251 children). As 9th graders, they were compared to two control groups: all twins born in Denmark during the same period and a randomly selected group of spontaneously conceived singletons. Also, ART singles and twins had comparable test scores.

Another major study by the University of Iowa followed children conceived using IVF through their hospitals and clinics. The age of children at the start of the study ranged from 8-17. Children were assessed through tests (grades 3 through 12), observation and answers given by parents on questionnaires.

The study showed IVF children performed better than peers matched by age and gender except that singles performed best and multiples (twins and triplets) tended to score slightly lower, though not significantly, than peers. Factors found to affect test scores included maternal age, parental education level, divorce and the child’s BMI. Cryopreservation, length of embryo culture and method of insemination did not affect scores. http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/01/building-a-brighter-kid-consider-ivf/

Additional long-term research is needed including the effect of IVF multiple births. After all, every parent wants to have children who are smarter than they are if just to avoid helping with the math homework.

Skip to content