ART Studies: Review of the health of adults conceived with and without Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Synopsis

It is generally believed that common adult onset disorders (particularly cardiovascular and respiratory diseases) begin in early life, possibly even before birth. Children born following the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) might be in a specific risk category because of the techniques used to enable successful ART/pregnancies. However, there are very few studies on adults born following ART.

The 2009-2011 retrospective cohort study, “Comparison of health and development of young adults born with and without assisted conception”, is the largest in-depth study anywhere in the world of people aged 18 years and over who were conceived with ART. The aim of the study was to compare the physical and mental health, educational achievements, and social development of young adults conceived with and without ART. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1524 mothers (reporting on 1573 offspring), and 1096 young adults.

The young adults that participated in the 2009 – 2011 telephone interviews have been invited to take part in the 2016-2017 CHART (Clinical review of the Health of 22-35 year olds conceived with and without Assisted Reproductive Technologies) Study. CHART is a clinical review investigating the respiratory, cardiac and metabolic health, and general wellbeing of the participants. Recruitment began in June 2016.

Summary

Study name

IYAGS: Comparison of health and development of young adults born with and without assisted conception

CHART Study: Clinical review of the Health of 22-35 year olds conceived with and without Assisted Reproductive Technologies
Study abbreviation IYAGS and CHART Study
Current principal investigator/s Professor Jane Halliday
Cohort representative (study contact) Dr Sharon Lewis (CHART)
Postal address Public Health Genetics, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052
Phone +613 9936 6766
Email chart.study@mcri.edu.au
Primary Institution Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Collaborating Institution/s

IYAGS: Royal Womens Hospital / Melbourne IVF; Victorian Perinatal Data Collection Unit (VPDCU); Epworth Hospital / Monash IVF

CHART: Monash IVF; Melbourne IVF; Hudson Institute of Medical Research; Monash University
Major funding sources

IYAGS: National Health and Medical Research Council; Jack Brockhoff Foundation

CHART: National Health and Medical Research Council – full study; Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation – pilot; Monash Research & Education Foundation (MREF) – pilot; Melbourne IVF – pilot
Study website

mcri.edu.au/research/projects/assisted-reproductive-technologies
Key reference

IYAGS:

Wilson, C., Hammarberg, K., Bruinsma, F., Berg, T., Amor, D., Sanson, A., Fisher, J.R. and Halliday, J. (2013). Health and development of ART conceived young adults: a study protocol for the follow-up of a cohort. Reprod Health, 10: 15.  doi: doi: 10.1186/1742-4755-10-15

CHART:

Lewis, S., Kennedy, J., Burgner, D., McLachlan, R., Ranganathan, S., Hammarberg, K., Saffery, R., Amor, D.J., Cheung, M.M.H., Doyle, L.W., Juonala, M., Donath, S., McBain, J. and Halliday, J. (2017). Clinical review of 24-35 year olds conceived with and without in vitro fertilization: study protocol. Reprod Health, 14(1): 117.  doi: 10.1186/s12978-017-0377-3
Are data available outside study team? No
Study focus

IYGS: Health and development of young adults born with and without assisted conception

CHART: Clinical review of respiratory, cardiac and metabolic health
Sampling frame

IYGS:

  • ART Mothers – traced from clinic database (Melbourne IVF and Monash IVF in Victoria, Australia)
  • Non-ART Mothers – population-based controls recruited by random digit dialling (households in Victoria, Australia)
  • ART and non-ART Young Adults – approached with maternal consent

CHART:

  • 540 ART conceived and 532 age/sex matched controls who consented to follow up from the 2009 – 2011 telephone interview study
Year commenced

IYGS: 2008 (recruitment and data collection commenced in 2009)

CHART: 2014 (pilot) 2016-2017 (full study)
Commencement sample

IYGS:

  • ART: 656 mothers reporting on 705 offspring; 547 offspring reports
  • Non-ART: 868 mothers reporting on 868 offspring; 549 offspring reports

CHART Target Sample (recruitment ongoing):

  • 540 ART conceived adults agreed to be contacted about follow-up studies
    532 spontaneously conceived adults agreed to be contacted about follow-up studies
Intergenerational? No 
Imaging

CHART: 

  • Retinal imaging
  • Ultrasound
Linkage No 
Biosamples?

CHART: 

  • Venous blood
  • Buccal
  • Newborn screening (Guthrie) card
Ethics approvals or requirements?

IYGS:

This project only (Specific consent) 

CHART:

This project only (Specific consent)
Future research related to this project (Extended consent)
Optional consent included:
– Consent to be contacted about future research projects
– Consent to the sharing of coded data and/or samples with researchers in Australia and/or overseas
– Consent to the storage of blood/DNA samples for use in ethically approved research, related to this project or future projects on the health of young adults conceived via ART

Waves

Wave Year Age (mean, range) Eligible sample
IYAGS (telephone interview)  2009-2011 18-28 years (offspring) 656 IVF mothers and 547 offspring
868 non-IVF mothers and 549 offspring
CHART (clinical review)  2014-2017 22-35 years 540 (ART); 532 (Non-ART)