Mental and psychomotor development of 2-year-old children born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening.

Background: Embryo biopsy is a new invasive procedure applied in ART for diagnostic purposes in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or to increase pregnancy rate in preimplantation genetic screening (PGS). The objective of this study is to assess mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes in 2-year-old children born after PGD/PGS, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and natural conception (NC).

Methods: Two-year-old PGD/PGS (n = 70), ICSI (n = 70) and naturally conceived (n = 70) singleton children were recruited. The participation rate in the NC group was 88.6% and 94.5% in both ART conception groups. The mental and psychomotor development of the children was assessed using the Dutch version of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. The mothers were questioned about socio-demographic characteristics.

Results: Even after controlling for socio-demographic variables, no differences were found between the three conception groups for the mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes. Moreover, an equal number of PGD/PGS, ICSI and NC children obtained scores within the mildly delayed, the normal and the accelerated performance category of the BSID-II-NL.

Conclusions: Children conceived after PGD/PGS show similar mental and psychomotor developmental outcomes at age 2 to children conceived after ICSI or naturally.