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Australia; VIC
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First study to explore prosocial development of adults conceived with assisted reproductive technology show positive results
Being conceived via assisted reproductive technology (ART), such as IVF, may provide some advantages in quality of life in adulthood, according to the results of a new study.
The results of the study, published in Human Fertility, offer reassuring news for people who have been conceived with ART – and those who need to use the technology to conceive.
“Our findings suggest that being ART-conceived can provide some advantages on quality of life in adulthood, independent of other psychosocial factors,” said lead author Karin Hammarberg of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
“Together with previous evidence that adults conceived by ART have similar physical health to those who were naturally conceived, this is reassuring for people who were conceived with ART – and those who need ART to conceive.”
In the more than four decades since the first birth following in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in 1978, more than 8 million children have been born as a result of ART. In that time, many studies have evaluated the physical health, development and psychosocial well-being of ART-conceived children compared with those naturally conceived (NC). But currently, there is less known about the health and quality of life of adults who were conceived by ART.
This study involved 193 young adults who were conceived through ART and 86 through NC in the state of Victoria, Australia. These participants completed questionnaires, which included a standardised quality of life measure (World Health Organisation Quality of Life – Brief Assessment (WHOQoL-BREF)), when aged 18-28 years (T1) and again when aged 22-35 years (T2). The WHOQoL-BREF assesses four domains of quality of life: 1) physical 2) psychosocial 3) social relationships and 4) environment.
The researchers looked at the associations between factors present at T1 (mode of conception, the mother’s age when the participant was born, sexual orientation, family financial situation in secondary school, perceptions of own weight, number of close friends, frequency of vigorous exercise and quality of relationships with parents) and the scores on the four domains of WHOQoL-BREF at T2.
After making statistical adjustments to account for other psychosocial factors present in young adulthood, the results showed that being ART-conceived was strongly linked with higher scores (better quality of life) on both the social relationships and environment WHOQoL-BREF domains at T2. In addition, having less psychological distress, a more positive relationship with parents, a better financial situation, and perceptions of being about the right weight at T1 were associated with higher scores on one or more WHOQoL-BREF domains at T2.
“Children conceived via ART are nowadays a substantial part of the population – and it’s important to continue to evaluate the long-term effects of ART on their physical health and well-being as they progress through adolescence into adulthood,” said Hammarberg.
“When accounting for other factors present in young adulthood, being ART-conceived appears to confer some advantages in quality of life. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we also found that, independently of how the person was conceived, having a better relationship with parents, less psychological distress, and a better family financial situation in young adulthood contributed to a better adult quality of life.”
This is the first study to explore the contributions of being conceived with ART and psychosocial factors present in young adulthood to the quality of life of adults. While the findings are reassuring, they should be interpreted with caution because many of those who took part in the first study did not take part in the follow-up study.
Expert Reaction
These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.
Amanda Lambros is a Therapist who works in private practice specialising in Relationships, Mental Health and Grief and Loss
The choice of assisted reproductive technology (ART) is not one entered into lightly. There are significant costs associated with ART. Essentially, the parents had money and a want to become parents. The kids are now known to have a better quality of life in some elements. With this technology having now been around for 40+years, the kids of ART are grown adults living their own lives....and they are good lives at that!
Associate Professor Peter Illingworth is Medical Director of IVF Australia
This interesting research is one of the first studies investigating the quality of life in adulthood for people who have been conceived through IVF. Reassuringly, the researchers did not find evidence of any harm to the young adults through being conceived from IVF.
The report indeed suggests advantages in quality of life through being IVF conceived. However, this conclusion should be treated with caution. The number of participants in this study is small for such a complex topic and further studies are needed before such an effect can be confirmed.
Associate Professor Luk Rombauts is the Director of Clinical Research at Monash IVF.
This research is wonderful news for IVF-lings (people conceived through IVF) and their parents. This team of researchers, mostly from Melbourne, have over the years collected very reassuring data showing that IVF-conceived children grow up to become healthy and well-adjusted adults.
Associate Professor Alex Polyakov is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne and is a Medical Director at Genea Fertility Melbourne
This is a very reassuring study. While the physical wellbeing of IVF-conceived people is well studied, psychological aspects of their lives is an unexplored area that deserves further attention. The study utilised established and validated questionnaire instruments to assess the psychological health, well being and general fulfilment of people conceived via IVF, and to compare their responses to individuals who were naturally conceived.
A tremendous effort went into conducting this study and it required participation and commitment of numerous IVF and naturally conceived subjects. The results are somewhat surprising in that IVF-conceived individuals had a higher overall quality of life in terms of psychological well being and social relationships. These findings persisted when adjustments were made for other factors that may have influenced the outcomes, such as Socio-Economic Status and maternal age, among others.
Perhaps it is self-evident, but nevertheless must be stressed that it is not being conceived via IVF per se that is responsible for these findings. It is probably some variation in either baseline characteristics of the parents or their parenting style, that is specific to families that underwent IVF, that produced happier and better-adjusted offspring. It is probable that the agony of infertility and the struggle to conceive is the driving factor that altered parental behaviour, once the dream of having a child was realised.
Overall, based on the currently available evidence of long term follow up of IVF-conceived individuals, it can be concluded that their physical and psychological health is comparable to their naturally conceived peers and there appears to be no long-term impact on their overall well being that persists into adulthood.
Dr Fleur Cattrall is the Medical Director of Melbourne IVF
We have known for some time that adults conceived through IVF have similar health to people conceived without assistance. This study demonstrates that IVF conceived children also have excellent psychosocial outcomes which is reassuring to the millions of people that require IVF to create their families.
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