Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To assess the somatic, psychomotor, and intellectual development of children conceived through intracytoplasmic single sperm injection (ICSI) over the whole preschool period.

DESIGN:

Prospective, controlled, cohort study.

SETTING:

Fertility clinic in Brussels, Belgium.

PATIENT(S):

Sixty-six ICSI-conceived children prospectively compared with 52 IVF-conceived and 59 spontaneously conceived children. All children were full-term singletons.

INTERVENTION(S):

Home visits by a trained psychologist. Standardized interviews. Assessments using the revised Brunet-Lézine scale and the revised Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):

Physical growth and general health. Formal developmental and intellectual assessments.

RESULT(S):

Children conceived by ICSI were healthy: no significant differences appeared in the incidence of combined congenital malformations (11.3%), health problems (44.1%), surgical interventions (18.6%), and hospitalizations (6.8%), nor for the developmental assessments (mean developmental quotient at 9 months: 93.9; at 18 months: 102.0). For the intellectual assessments, the between-group differences disappeared when adjusted for levels of parental education (mean intelligence quotient at 3 years: 97.0; at 5 years: 103.3).

CONCLUSION(S):

This pilot study shows that throughout the preschool period, ICSI-conceived children have psychomotor and intellectual development similar to that of IVF-conceived and spontaneously conceived children. These conclusions need to be confirmed by multicenter studies.