Cognitive achievements in school-age children born following assisted reproductive technology treatments: A prospective study.

Background: While assisted reproductive technology is increasingly prevalent, there is concern amid conflicting findings reported regarding the long-term outcomes of children born following these treatments. The aim of this research was to investigate aspects of cognitive development in early school-age Israeli children born following assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments, compared to those spontaneously conceived (SC).

Method: This prospective follow-up study was based on an Israeli cohort recruited from June 2006 to December 2008, that included 561 women whose pregnancies were achieved by ART treatments and 600 women whose pregnancies were SC.

How Are They Doing? Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at School Age of Children Born Following Assisted Reproductive Treatments.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess major neurodevelopmental aspects of children conceived by assisted reproductive treatments compared to spontaneously conceived children during the early school years.

Material & Methods: In this follow-up study, mothers of 358 children born following assisted reproductive treatments and 401 spontaneously-conceived children were interviewed by telephone regarding their children's health and development, when the children were 7-8 years old. The main outcomes were maternal responses to 4 questionnaires: Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, Short Sensory Profile, Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire, and the Attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) Child Symptom Inventory-4 subscale.

When the Ideal Meets the Feasible: Constructing a Protocol for Developmental Assessment at Early School-Age.

To describe development of a methodology for an outcome study of children born following fertilization or spontaneously-conceived, as a model for defining normal and below-normal development of school-age children for research purposes. The main issues addressed were defining the major health and developmental domains to be investigated, selection of age-appropriate validated instruments, considering time constraints to maximize compliance, and budgetary limitations. The final protocol included a half-hour structured telephone interview with mothers of all 759 children and a 2-h developmental assessment of 294 of them.