Article Text
Abstract
The purpose of this project was to compare paediatric hospital admission rates of children conceived via assisted reproductive technology with that of the population as a whole.
Consent-based ART register and admission records were linked and comparisons made between admission rates in the general population and the ART cohort by calculation of standardised admission ratios (SAR’s). The project was performed in accordance with HFEA regulations and had ethical approval.
Children conceived via ART had a significantly lower rate of hospital admissions (all admissions and first hospital admissions) than that of the population as a whole. Children born following ICSI had fewer total hospital admissions than their IVF peers, the difference did not persist when first admissions were analysed. Different-sex twins, but not twins overall, had lower total hospital admissions than singletons.