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Assisted reproductive technology and somatic morbidity in childhood: a systematic review
Laura Ozer Kettner1, Tine Brink Henriksen1, Bjørn Bay2
1Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
Insights
Children conceived via assisted reproductive technology (ART) may face higher risks of certain childhood health issues, including infections and asthma. Further research is needed to clarify these associations and address inconsistencies in current findings.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Medicine
- Pediatric Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Assisted reproductive technology (ART) encompasses various procedures to achieve pregnancy.
- Concerns exist regarding the long-term health outcomes of children conceived through ART.
- Understanding potential somatic morbidities in childhood is crucial for ART-conceived children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the risk of somatic morbidity in childhood for children conceived by ART compared to spontaneously conceived children.
- To systematically review existing evidence on the health outcomes of ART-conceived children.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of cohort and case-control studies.
- Searches conducted in Medline/Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library.
- Studies assessed for quality and risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.
Main Results:
- Thirty-eight studies included, indicating potential increased risks for ART-conceived children in infections, asthma, genitourinary diseases, epilepsy, and longer hospitalizations.
- Some findings lacked statistical significance, and inconsistencies were noted across studies.
- No significant differences were found in hospital admission, outpatient visits, or medication use; results for mortality and other diseases were contradictory.
Conclusions:
- Children conceived by ART may have an elevated risk of somatic morbidity during childhood.
- Inconsistencies in study results highlight the need for further investigation.
- High-quality studies suggest similar trends, reinforcing the need for careful monitoring.
Objective:
To assess whether children conceived by assisted reproductive technology are at increased risk of somatic morbidity in childhood compared with spontaneously conceived children.
Design:
Systematic review.
Setting:
None.
Patient(S):
Children conceived by assisted reproductive technology and reference groups of spontaneously conceived children or children from the background population.
Intervention(S):
Medline/Pubmed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched as well as reference lists of the retrieved relevant studies. Only cohort studies and case-control studies were included. All studies were scored using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale to assess study quality and the risk of bias in the individual studies.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Postneonatal somatic diseases, health care use, chronic illnesses (unspecified), surgery, use of medication, and mortality.
Result(S):
Thirty-eight studies were included. Results indicated that children conceived by assisted reproductive technology may be at increased risk of unspecified infectious and parasitic diseases, asthma, genitourinary diseases, epilepsy or convulsions, and longer hospitalizations. However, several results in individual studies were not statistically significant and some inconsistency existed between study results. No differences between groups were found regarding hospital admission, outpatient visits, or use of medication. Results regarding mortality, unspecified cancer, pneumonia, allergy, respiratory, and gastrointestinal diseases were contradictory. When considering only the 13 studies allocated the highest score on the Newcastle-Ottawa scale, similar results were found.
Conclusion(S):
Children conceived by assisted reproductive technology may be at increased risk of somatic morbidity in childhood compared with spontaneously conceived children, although some inconsistency exists between study results.
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