Health and Development of Children Born following Assisted Reproductive Technology Treatments: Long-Term Follow-Up

Despite the wide use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments, there is still concern regarding the safety and their effect on infant`s well-being.
Literature on long-term outcomes of children born following ART treatments will be reviewed with emphasis on studies conducted in Israel.

The health outcomes of children born following ART treatments will be evaluated as compare to spontaneously-conceived (SC) children. Extensive literature review was performed on 3 main topics: the risk for congenital malformations, the risk for childhood cancer, and long-term growth, health and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

In particular, 2 cohorts will be presented. A historical cohort of 9042 live births following ART and 213,288 spontaneously conceived live births during the period 1997–2004 that was linked to the National Live Birth Registry to determine congenital malformations, and to National Cancer Registry to evaluate the risk for childhood cancer.

A prospective cohort of 1,161 women with singleton pregnancies (561 women who conceived following ART treatments and 600 women who conceived spontaneously) was interviewed shortly after delivery in order to evaluate the risk for pregnancy complication and infants’ outcomes. Another telephone interview was conducted when these children were 6-9 years old in order to evaluate long-term growth, health and neurodevelopmental outcomes.