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IVF twins do just as well as natural twins

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Nearly all aspects of the development of IVF and natural twins are similar

November 2011 - Researchers from the Dutch Twin Register (NTR) from a large number of twin pairs compared the development of twins born after assisted reproductive techniques and pregnancy with twins naturally arose. An examination of the researchers of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam shows that IVF twins do just as well as natural twins.

1500 twins studied. The study covered the birth, growth, motor and behavioral development of 1500 twins by IVF (artificial reproduction by so-called in vitro fertilization) compared with twins born after a spontaneous pregnancy. The data on children from their parents and teachers. Higher risk of complications VU professor Dorret Boomsma: "Existing research on the development of IVF children are focused on singletons. A significant part of the IVF treatments, however, result in a twin pregnancy.

We already know that twin pregnancies have a higher risk of complications than singleton pregnancies. It is therefore important to examine how the development of two-and multiple births born after IVF expires. " Some of the differences The researchers found some differences: IVF twins were more often born after a caesarean (36%) than spontaneous twins (27%). Also, IVF twins after the birth a little lighter. The main outcome of the study is that the development of IVF twins is the same as that of "spontaneous" twins. The age at which children start crawling, sitting and walking is comparable between the two groups. The growth until the age of 12 is the same.

Both parents and teachers do not report more behavioral and emotional problems for IVF twins than for the twins in the natural group. In a large set of twin pairs, we compared twins born after IVF to naturally conceived twins with respect to birth characteristics, growth, attainment of motor milestones, and emotional and behavioral problems.

Twin families were registered with the Netherlands Twin Register. We included 1534 dizygotic (DZ) twins born after IVF, 5315 naturally conceived (NC) DZ twins, and 1504 control NC DZ twins who were matched to the IVF twins based on maternal age, maternal educational level, smoking during pregnancy, gestational age, and offspring sex. Data were obtained by longitudinal surveys sent to fathers, mothers, and teachers at ages 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, and 12 years. Results showed no differences in growth, in attainment of motor milestones, and in behavioral development between IVF and matched NC twins. It can be concluded that for nearly all aspects, development in IVF and NC children is similar.

Comparison Study of Naturally Conceived and IVF-DZ Twins in the Netherlands 2011
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