A population-based study of the effect of infertility and its treatment on child health and development

在英国，不孕症影响着大约七分之一的夫妇。试管婴儿等不孕症治疗方法的发展帮助许多夫妇怀孕。除了观察短期成功率（如怀孕和分娩）外，评估不孕症治疗的安全性也很重要，包括对儿童可能产生的任何长期影响。我们的研究将关注不孕症及其治疗对儿童健康和发育结果的影响。我们将使用一项针对英国19,000多名婴儿的全国性研究的数据。这些孩子的父母在孩子9个月、3岁和5岁时接受了采访。父母被问了很多问题，包括孩子。的健康与发展。采访者对这些孩子进行了标准的评估，评估他们在这个年龄段的发育情况。通常的受孕时间吗父母不为所动，而为所动。受孕时间延长（那些父母有怀孕困难，但在没有治疗的情况下设法怀孕的人）;以及那些在不孕症治疗后怀孕的人。我们将评估这三组儿童的健康和发育是否存在差异。本研究的团队具有必要的经验，以确保本研究的高质量，并与正在接受或考虑接受不孕症治疗的患者相关。研究结果将发表在医学期刊上。我们将与人类受精和胚胎学管理局和英国不孕症网络保持联系，以确保我们的发现报告给那些认为有用的人。

Infertility affects about one in seven couples in the UK. The development of infertility treatments such as IVF has helped many couples to conceive. As well as looking at short-term success rates such as becoming pregnant and giving birth, it is important to assess the safety of infertility treatments, including any possible longer term effects on the child.Our study will look at the effects of infertility and its treatment on a range of child health and development outcomes. We will use data from a national study of over 19,000 babies born in the UK. Parents of these children were interviewed when the children were aged 9 months, 3 years and 5 years. The parents were asked about many things including the child?s health and development. The interviewers performed standard assessments on the children which assessed how well they were developing for their age.We will compare three groups of children: those who resulted from ?a usual time to conception? (those whose parents did not have difficulties conceiving); those who resulted from ?a prolonged time to conception? (those whose parents had difficulties conceiving but managed to conceive without treatment); and those who were conceived following infertility treatment. We will assess whether the health and development in these three groups of children varies.The team for this study has the experience necessary to ensure that this research will be high quality and relevant to those who are having or considering infertility treatment. The results will be published in medical journals. We will liaise with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and Infertility Network UK to ensure that our findings are reported to those who will find them useful.