Growth in children conceived by ART

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Medicine
• Pediatric Growth and Development
• Human Reproduction

Background:

• Assisted reproductive technology (ART) and parental subfertility may influence child growth.
• Children conceived by ART are typically smaller at birth, but long-term growth patterns remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the growth patterns of children conceived by ART compared to naturally conceived children.
• To determine if differences in growth persist into childhood and adolescence.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, population-based study of 81,461 children (Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study) and 544,113 adolescents.
• Maternally reported and self-reported height and weight data were analyzed from mid-pregnancy to age 17.
• Mixed-effects linear regression and linear regression models were used to compare growth trajectories based on conception mode.

Main Results:

• ART-conceived children were smaller at birth but exhibited accelerated growth, achieving greater height and weight by age 3.
• By age 7, ART children were taller, but by age 17, no significant differences in height or weight were observed compared to naturally conceived children.
• Naturally conceived children of parents with longer time-to-conception showed similar growth patterns to ART-conceived children.

Conclusions:

• ART-conceived offspring do not exhibit long-term differences in height, weight, or BMI compared to naturally conceived individuals by adolescence.
• Parental subfertility may play a role in growth patterns observed in ART-conceived children.
• Findings provide reassurance regarding the long-term growth outcomes of ART-conceived children.