SUMMARY ANSWER The available high- quality evidence indicates that specific treatments may give rise to different effects on cognitive development , with certain treatments , including ICSI , associated with cognitive impairment .
STUDY QUESTION Does  fertility treatment  influence cognitive ability in school aged children , and does the impact vary with the type of treatment ?
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Previous review s of the literature concerning cognitive outcomes among children conceived with medical assistance have concluded that study findings are generally ' reassuring ' , but limited attention has been paid to the quality of this research .
In addition , no review has separately assessed the range of treatment modalities available , which vary in invasiveness , and thus , potentially , in their effects on developmental outcomes .
Visual memory and learning in extremely low-birth-weight/extremely preterm adolescents compared with controls: a geographic study.
BACKGROUND Contemporary data on visual memory and learning in survivors born extremely preterm ( EP ; < 28 weeks gestation ) or with extremely low birth weight ( ELBW ; < 1,000 g ) are lacking . METHODS Geographically determined cohort study of 298 consecutive EP/ELBW survivors born in 1991 and 1992 , and 262 r and omly selected normal-birth-weight controls . RESULTS Visual learning and memory data were available for 221 ( 74.2 % ) EP/ELBW subjects and 159 ( 60.7 % ) controls . EP/ELBW adolescents exhibited significantly poorer performance across visual memory and learning variables compared with controls . Visual learning and delayed visual memory were particularly problematic and remained so after controlling for visual-motor integration and visual perception and excluding adolescents with neurosensory disability , and /or IQ < 70 . Male EP/ELBW adolescents or those treated with corticosteroids had poorer outcomes . CONCLUSION EP/ELBW adolescents have poorer visual memory and learning outcomes compared with controls , which can not be entirely explained by poor visual perceptual or visual constructional skills or intellectual impairment
SUMMARY ANSWER The available high- quality evidence indicates that specific treatments may give rise to different effects on cognitive development , with certain treatments , including ICSI , associated with cognitive impairment .
STUDY QUESTION Does  fertility treatment  influence cognitive ability in school aged children , and does the impact vary with the type of treatment ?
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Previous review s of the literature concerning cognitive outcomes among children conceived with medical assistance have concluded that study findings are generally ' reassuring ' , but limited attention has been paid to the quality of this research .
In addition , no review has separately assessed the range of treatment modalities available , which vary in invasiveness , and thus , potentially , in their effects on developmental outcomes .