Are IVF children smarter?

Have you ever read about concerns that children born with the help of IVF have a higher chance of suffering from autism (see autism rates and IVF), or birth defects, or other health problems? One new study conducted by the University of Iowa actually suggests that IVF children do better with academic tests than the average child. It is nice to hear a positive story about IVF-lings once in a while, isn't it?

The University of Iowa found that children who were conceived through invitro fertilization did better on Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Iowa Test for Educational Development (ITBS/ED) than other children, statistically seen. Lead researcher Bradley Van Voorhis and his colleagues looked at 423 IVF children in various ages groups and compared their performance to that of 372 children in the same age range, who were not conceived with the help of assisted fertility techniques. Van Voorhis said: "By using age and gender matched children from the same classrooms as a control group to compare to our study participants, we attempted to control for any socioeconomic or environmental differences between the children born by IVF and their peers. Our findings are reassuring for clinicians and patients as they suggest that being conceived through IVF does not have any detrimental effects on a child's intelligence or cognitive development."

The study also compared IVF-lings born from fresh embryos to those from frozen embryos and found no difference between the two groups, which was seen as an important finding. What do you think about this study? Is such a small sample able to provide conclusive information? Does it affect your opinions on the safety of IVF? Other studies show that adult IVF children are worried about their health. Do you think studies such as these can help ease their fears? As always, we'd love to hear from you!