Childrens Cohort

Nearly 1 in 50 children in the UK are born after assisted reproductive technologies, including IVF and related techniques. Worldwide there are already over 8 million such individuals.

Whilst the development of IVF has been of great benefit to millions of families, the growing numbers of children born as a result of IVF make it increasingly important that potential health risks are investigated in a scientifically robust way.

There are various theoretical reasons why children born after IVF might have higher rates of illness and hospital admissions compared to children born after natural conception. These include increased risks of being born prematurely with/without low birth weight, developing cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Few studies have investigated these risks and those that have are too small to produce reliable answers.

We aim to look at these issues in England & Wales by comparing the health experiences of children born after IVF to their spontaneously conceived siblings and the general population.

Access the Patient Notification for the Children’s study will be available soon