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Health of children born after ovulation induction
Reija Klemetti1, Tiina Sevón, Mika Gissler
1Health Services Research, STAKES, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Helsinki, Finland. reija.klemetti@stakes.fi
Insights
Children born after ovulation induction (OI) face increased health risks. These risks include poorer perinatal health, more hospitalizations, and long-term illnesses, even for singletons. The underlying reasons for OI treatment may contribute to these adverse outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive medicine
- Pediatric health
- Public health
Background:
- Ovulation induction (OI) is a common fertility treatment.
- The long-term health outcomes for children born after OI require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the health status of children born after ovulation induction (OI) up to age 4.
- To compare the health of OI children with non-OI children.
Main Methods:
- A nationwide register-based study comparing 4,467 OI children with 190,398 controls.
- Outcomes included mortality, perinatal health, hospitalizations, and long-term medication use.
- Adjustments were made for multiplicity and confounding factors like maternal age and socioeconomic position.
Main Results:
- OI children had poorer perinatal health and more prolonged hospitalizations compared to controls.
- Singleton OI children exhibited higher rates of long-term illnesses, indicated by disability allowances and medication use.
- 12% of OI children were multiples, compared to 2% of controls.
Conclusions:
- Ovulation induction treatment or the conditions necessitating it are associated with increased risks of adverse health outcomes in early childhood.
- Further research is needed to elucidate the specific factors contributing to these health disparities.
Objective:
To study the health of children born after ovulation induction (OI).
Design:
Nationwide register-based study.
Setting:
The OI children were followed up to the age of 4 years and compared with other children.
Patient(S):
The OI children (N = 4,467). Two control groups: all other children (excluding children born after IVF, N = 190,398) and a random sample of those children (n = 26,877).
Intervention(S):
Ovulation induction treatment in ordinary practice.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Mortality rates and adjusted odds ratios for perinatal outcomes, hospitalizations, health-related benefits, and long-term medication use.
Result(S):
A total of 12% of OI and 2% of control children were multiples. Even after stratifying for multiplicity and adjusting for the available confounding factors (region, smoking, maternal age, socioeconomic position, and parity for perinatal health and mother's socioeconomic position for other indicators), most indicators showed worse health among OI children compared with control children. The OI children had poorer perinatal health and more episodes of long hospitalization than the control children. Singleton OI children had more long-term illnesses in childhood, as measured by child disability allowance, long-term medication use, and hospital care episodes.
Conclusion(S):
Either OI treatment or the reasons for the treatment increase the risk of health problems in early childhood.
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