Right ventricular dysfunction in children and adolescents conceived by assisted reproductive technologies

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are linked to offspring vascular and cardiac issues.
• Previous studies noted cardiac remodeling in early life, but persistence into later childhood is unknown.
• Confounding factors like prematurity and low birth weight need consideration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if cardiac alterations persist in children and adolescents conceived by ART.
• To assess cardiac function and pulmonary artery pressure in ART-conceived children.
• To differentiate ART effects from confounding factors like birth weight and prematurity.

Main Methods:

• Echocardiography used to assess cardiac function and pulmonary artery pressure.
• Studied 54 healthy ART-conceived children and 54 matched controls (singletons, normal birth weight, term delivery).
• Cardiac function evaluated at low altitude and during high-altitude exposure (simulating hypoxic pulmonary hypertension).

Main Results:

• No significant differences in cardiac morphometry or function at low altitude.
• Under high-altitude stress, ART-conceived children showed larger right ventricular end-diastolic area.
• ART-conceived children exhibited diastolic dysfunction at high altitude, indicated by reduced tricuspid annulus velocities.

Conclusions:

• Right ventricular dysfunction persists in children and adolescents conceived by ART.
• Cardiac alterations are likely attributable to ART procedures themselves.
• Findings suggest ART per se, rather than low birth weight or prematurity, contributes to these cardiac issues.