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Laterality in five-year-olds conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection, standard in vitro fertilisation and
A G Sutcliffe1, J Barnes, U-B Wennerholm
1Department of Child Health, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK.
Insights
Laterality in children conceived via assisted reproductive therapies (ART) was assessed. ICSI-conceived girls showed slightly less left-handedness compared to naturally conceived girls, suggesting a minor difference in laterality.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Medicine
- Developmental Psychology
- Human Genetics
Background:
- Laterality, or handedness, is a complex trait influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
- Assisted reproductive therapies (ART) like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are increasingly common worldwide.
- Potential subtle developmental differences in ART-conceived children warrant investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate laterality, specifically handedness, in European children conceived through ART (IVF, ICSI) compared to naturally conceived children.
- To determine if conception method influences the prevalence of left-handedness or mixed-handedness.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study involving 1525 five-year-old children across five European countries.
- Children were assessed for handedness using the McCarthy Scale of Children's Abilities (Motor Scale) and additional tasks.
- Parental handedness was indirectly measured via questionnaire.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in observed handedness were found between naturally conceived, IVF, and ICSI groups for boys or girls.
- A statistically significant, though small, difference was observed in ICSI-conceived girls, with fewer being left-handed (7.0%) compared to naturally conceived girls (12.4%).
- Parental handedness did not significantly vary across the conception groups.
Conclusions:
- Laterality, assessed by handedness, may be marginally less common in girls conceived with ART compared to naturally conceived girls.
- The observed difference in left-handedness for ICSI-conceived girls was small and close to the population norm.
- Further research is needed to understand the implications of these findings.
Objective:
To assess laterality in a group of European children conceived with the help of assisted reproductive therapy, or naturally conceived.
Design:
Prospective cohort study.
Setting:
Five European countries.
Population:
A total of 1525 five-year-old children divided into three groups according to conception status: naturally conceived; intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); in vitro fertilisation (IVF) group.
Methods:
All children were assessed using the McCarthy Scale of Children's Abilities (Motor Scale) with additional items using a comb, a spoon and an indirect measure was made of the parental handedness scores, using a questionnaire.
Main Outcome Measures:
Child handedness for drawing and writing.
Results:
Observed handedness did not differ significantly between natural conception, IVF and ICSI in girls or boys, except for ICSI-conceived girls, fewer of whom were left-handed than the naturally conceived controls, 7.0%versus 12.4% (P < 0.05), however, this was close to the population norm of 8%. The degree of parental handedness did not significantly vary in the three groups.
Conclusions:
Laterality, as assessed by handedness, may be marginally less common in girls conceived with assisted reproductive therapies than with children conceived naturally.
