Health Status of Children Born After Assisted Reproductive Technologies

The tasks of the planned scientific and engineering project are based on the study of health status of children born after ART. The presence of a large cohort of children after ART in Kazakhstan will allow us to study morbidity patterns with the connection of mother's anamnesis, as well as to develop a prediction model and algorithms for the management of children conceived by assisted pregnancy. A comprehensive assessment of the health status of children born after ART will make it possible to determine the effect of the method of conception on the risks of immunity-related diseases and endocrine system pathology. It will allow us to predict deviations and ensure timely access to specialists and further examination. The presence of a burdened psychological background in couples with infertility may further influence the psychosocial adaptation of children conceived by ART and/or provoke higher morbidity rates in this group of children. It is important for the healthy and full integration of these children into society, including successful professional development in the future.

2.2. The project objective: to study the features of psychophysical development and the morbidity patterns of children born after assisted pregnancy, and to identify the connection with the health status of mothers, followed by the development of a prediction model and general principles of management of children born after ART.

Project Tasks

• To study the influence of premorbid background of mothers on children's physical development, disease occurrence and morbidity patterns of children based on a retrospective study of 120 medical records of mothers and their children born as after ART.
• To determine the indicators of cellular and humoral immunity (hemogram examination, cellular components CD3, CD4, CD8, CD16, CD20, CD25, CD95, CD3 HLA DR+, CD# HLA-DR; humoral components - IgM, IgA, IgE, IgG) in children born after ART.
• To study the long-term effects of the hormone therapy in 120 mothers on the endocrine status (TSH, free T3 and T4 levels, insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), somatotropic hormone (STH); glucose, potassium, sodium) of children born after ART.
• To develop a prediction model and algorithms for the management of children born after ART.

Inclusion criteria

• successful ART program after IVF and ICSI,
• the transfer of fresh and frozen-thawed embryos (FET)
• a single or multiple pregnancy
• the birth of a child in the period from 2017 to 2023.

Exclusion criteria

• intrauterine insemination
• ART programs with donor gametes
• surrogacy.