Psychological development of infants conceived through in vitro fertilization

• Main Author: Van de Water, Virginia Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 1988
• Subjects: Developmental Psychology
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539618672; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1882&context=etd

In 1984, The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded a grant to The Eastern Virginia Medical School and The Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters to study the IVF children conceived a The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Virginia. The purpose of the study was to assess the children comprehensively using a multi-disciplinary team to determine whether the IVF process resulted in higher than average physical and/or behavioral deficits. The children were psychologically tested on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development; they also received pediatric, neurological, cardiac, and ultrasound examinations of their internal organs. 83 of 105 eligible IVF children were examined. These children were matched on the following criteria: maternal age, child's age, race, gender, births/pregnancy, and socioeconomic status. The controls were obtained from a 100 mile radius of Norfolk, Virginia. Ninety-three children served as controls. All were between 12 and 30 months of age.;The results indicate that these families are different from the general population in several respects: they are older, better educated, more affluent, almost all white, and have a higher rate of multiple births. The groups did not differ in their rate of congenital defects. While prematurity was common, the children demonstrated no adverse effects from their prematurity.;The psychological results indicated that both groups were above the national norms for the Bayley Scales on both their MDIs and PDIs; they did not differ significantly, but the IVF group was higher on both scores. Two IVF children with physical handicaps were cognitively normal. Behaviorally the groups did not differ at the p =.01 level on any of the Behavioral Record variables.;The NICHHD study concludes that the risk of the IVF process is acceptable from a medical viewpoint. The children who are born do not demonstrate a higher rate of physical or psychological abnormalities based on current information.