IVF kids growing up better behaved

CHILDREN conceived by Assisted Reproductive Technologies like IVF are more responsible, better behaved and have a healthier BMI in their adolescent years than those naturally conceived, an Australian-first study has shown.

The paper on the long-term effects of IVF treatment on the health of adolescent offspring has been released by a research team from the University of Western Australia.

One child in every Australian classroom is now born via IVF and there are 10 million IVF babies worldwide.

“There hasn’t been a lot of research done in this area, the results of our latest study are interesting because they show that at both 14 and 17 years of age, ART-conceived teenagers are better behaved, demonstrating less externalising behaviour traits,” Professor Roger Hart from the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and National Medical Director of City Fertility, who led the study, said.

“We also found that IVF conceived offspring may perform at a higher level when it comes to academic testing in schools,” he said.

The study was written by UWA PhD student Laura Wijs.

Ms Wijs canvassed 163 West Australian children born via IVF prior to 2001.

“We compared their health outcomes against those of children from one of the most comprehensive pregnancy birth cohort studies in the world – the Raine Study,” Professor Hart said.

The Raine children are representative of the general population.

Professor Hart and his team revealed the study shows that teenage girls born as a result of IVF had a lower BMI, than their naturally conceived counterparts, although boys showed no real difference.