The association between type of conception through medically assisted reproduction and childhood cognition: a Danish population-wide cohort study

Abstract

Background

Previous research has indicated that children conceived through medically assisted reproduction (MAR) generally have cognitive outcomes comparable to or better than naturally conceived children. However, previous studies have been limited in their ability to examine this relationship at a population level and consider variations across different types of MAR.

Methods

This study utilizes data from all live births in Denmark between 2006 and 2009 (n = 259 608), including a subset of births resulting from MAR conceptions (n = 13 566). The dependent variable is the standardized test scores obtained in the second and third grades of primary schools. A comparison is made between the test scores of children spontaneously conceived (SC) and those conceived through intrauterine insemination (IUI) and assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Ordinary least squares regressions are employed, with a baseline model adjusted only for birth year, as well as models that additionally account for conception-related confounders and sociodemographic family characteristics.

Results

In the baseline analysis, ART- and IUI-conceived children displayed better test scores compared with their SC peers. However, after adjusting for relevant factors, ART-conceived children performed worse than SC peers, while IUI-conceived children performed equally well as SC peers and better than ART-conceived children.

Conclusions

These results likely reflect differences in the selection process of potential parents into the type of MAR, as well as the consequences of variations in fecundability. Nevertheless, the differences observed across conception types were overshadowed by test score disparities in socioeconomic background.