Health Implications for Young Adults Conceived Following Assisted Reproductive Technologies
Halliday J, Lewis S, Kennedy J, Burgner D, McLachlan R, Ranganathan S, Hammarberg K, Saffery R, Amor D, Cheung C, Doyle L, Juonala M, Donath S, McBain J
Many common adult non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory conditions, have their origins in early life, possibly before birth. The risk trajectories track through childhood until clinical disease manifests in adulthood. Conception by assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has been suggested as adding to the risk profile for a range of adult onset NCDs. However, adequately powered and detailed studies are lacking. As the number of ART-conceived children reaching adulthood is accumulating, any health problems associated with ART that manifest as the child grows older will result in the magnitude of these problems increasing dramatically in the near future.
The aim of this study was to compare the health outcomes for adults aged 22-35 years old who were conceived via ART compared with adults of the same age conceived without use of ART. This study addressed significant gaps in knowledge of outcomes beyond adolescence and showed that young adult reported outcomes were similar for both groups.
We partnered with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute for this study, which was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Reported in:
Halliday J, Lewis S, Kennedy J, Burgner DP, Juonala M, Hammarberg K, Amor DJ, Doyle LW, Saffery R, Ranganathan S et al: Health of adults aged 22 to 35 years conceived by assisted reproductive technology. Fertil Steril 2019, 112(1):130-139.
Novakovic B, Lewis S, Halliday J, Kennedy J, Burgner DP, Czajko A, Kim B, Sexton-Oates A, Juonala M, Hammarberg K et al: Assisted reproductive technologies are associated with limited epigenetic variation at birth that largely resolves by adulthood. Nature Communications 2019, 10(1):3922.
Juonala M, Lewis S, McLachlan R, Hammarberg K, Kennedy J, Saffery R, McBain J, Welsh L, Cheung M, Doyle LW et al: American Heart Association ideal cardiovascular health score and subclinical atherosclerosis in 22-35-year-old adults conceived with and without assisted reproductive technologies. Hum Reprod 2020, 35(1):232-239.