Mental health in children conceived by Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs): Insights from a longitudinal study of Australian children

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 19; no. 6; p. e0304213
• Main Authors: Islam, Md. Irteja, Chaffey, Oscar A., Chadwick, Verity, Martiniuk, Alexandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 27.06.2024; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Analysis; Anxiety; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - epidemiology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - etiology; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Australia - epidemiology; Autism; Birth weight; Child; Children; COVID-19; Data analysis; Depression - epidemiology; Development and progression; Diabetes mellitus; Drinking behavior; Female; Fertility; Fertility drugs; Fertilization; Genetic crosses; Humans; Hypertension; Information management; Logit models; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental Health; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Obstetrics; Offspring; People and Places; Population studies; Postpartum depression; Pregnancy; Pregnancy complications; Pregnant women; Psychological aspects; Regression analysis; Regression models; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; Reproductive technologies; Reproductive technology; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Statistical analysis; Womens health; Young Adult; Australia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304213

The mental health of children conceived using Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) such as In-Vitro-Fertilization (IVF) is a subject of significant controversy. Existing studies suggest children conceived through ART meet physical and cognitive developmental milestones at similar rates to their spontaneously conceived peers, however, a significant number of studies have connected ART conception with mental health conditions, particularly depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adolescence. This study, therefore, aimed to determine whether maternal use of ARTs to achieve pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of mental disorders in these children, and whether these effects are sex-dependent or confounded by known covariates in the ART population. Secondary data analysis was performed using Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) data; a nationally representative population-based cross-sequential cohort study. Multivariate logistic regression models examined the impact of ART (including IVF and other fertility drugs, from LSAC wave-1 and wave-2 conducted in 2004 and 2006, respectively) on mental health outcomes (i.e., autism, ADHD, anxiety and/or depression, from LSAC waves 8 conducted in 2018) in Australian adolescents aged 18-19 years in 2018 (n = 1735). Known sociological and obstetric covariates including maternal age, birth weight, smoking and drinking alcohol during pregnancy, maternal gestational diabetes, postnatal depression, hypertension, and socioeconomic status were considered to generate an adjusted logistic model. Variables with a p-value of <0.05 in the regression models were considered statistically significant. Of the 1735 mother-child dyads analysed, the maternal mean age was 35.6 years (Standard deviation = ±4.75), approximately 5% of mothers (n = 89) used ART to become pregnant, and 22% of adolescents (n = 384) had a mental disorder. Longitudinal analysis revealed no relationship between ART and children developing a mental disorder in the LSAC population. These results should reassure parents considering ART that there is no increased risk of psychological or neurodevelopmental problems in their ART conceived offspring.