RESULT ( S ) For infants , studies on psychomotor development showed no deficits , but few investigated cognitive or behavioral development .
Studies on toddlers generally reported normal cognitive , behavioral , socio-emotional , and psychomotor development .
For children in middle childhood , development seems comparable in children born after assisted reproduction and controls , although fewer studies have been conducted with follow-up to this age .
( S ) It may tentatively be concluded that the neurodevelopment of children born after  fertility treatment  is overall comparable to that in children born after spontaneous conception
OBJECTIVE To systematic ally review the existing literature on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children born after medically assisted reproduction  compared with those of children born after spontaneous conception .
The Groningen ART cohort study: ovarian hyperstimulation and the in vitro procedure do not affect neurological outcome in infancy.
BACKGROUND Due to the growing number of children born following assisted reproduction technology  , even subtle changes in the children 's health and development are of importance to society at large . The aim of the present study was to evaluate the specific effects of ovarian hyperstimulation and the in vitro procedure on neurological outcome in 4 - 18-month-old children . METHODS In this prospect i ve assessor-blinded cohort study , we included singletons born following controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in vitro fertilization ( IVF ) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection ( ICSI ) ( COH-IVF ; n = 68 ) or modified natural cycle-IVF/ICSI ( MNC-IVF ; n = 57 ) or naturally conceived singletons of subfertile couples ( NC ; n = 90 ) . Children were assessed with st and ardized , age-specific and sensitive neurological assessment s ( TINE and Hempel assessment ) at 4 , 10 and 18 months . Neurological examination result ed in a neurological optimality score ( NOS ) , a fluency score and a clinical neurological classification . Fluency of movements is easily affected by neurological dysfunction and is therefore a sensitive measure for minimal changes in neuromotor development . RESULTS The NOS and the fluency score were similar in COH-IVF , MNC-IVF and NC children . None of the children showed major neurological dysfunction and rates of minor neurological dysfunction at the three ages were not different between the three conception groups . CONCLUSIONS We found no effects of ovarian hyperstimulation or the in vitro procedure itself on neurological outcome in children aged 4 - 18 months . The findings of our study are reassuring , nevertheless it should be kept in mind that subtle neurodevelopmental disorders may emerge when children grow older . Continuation of follow-up in older and larger groups of children is therefore still needed
RESULT ( S ) For infants , studies on psychomotor development showed no deficits , but few investigated cognitive or behavioral development .
Studies on toddlers generally reported normal cognitive , behavioral , socio-emotional , and psychomotor development .
For children in middle childhood , development seems comparable in children born after assisted reproduction and controls , although fewer studies have been conducted with follow-up to this age .
( S ) It may tentatively be concluded that the neurodevelopment of children born after  fertility treatment  is overall comparable to that in children born after spontaneous conception
OBJECTIVE To systematic ally review the existing literature on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children born after medically assisted reproduction  compared with those of children born after spontaneous conception .