Health of premature infants born after in vitro fertilization procedure

Abstract

The purpose of the work ‒ to investigate the health of premature infants conceived both naturally and through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Material and methods. Our study involved 189 premature babies born after IVF and conceived naturally. All children conceived by IVF were included in the main group, which was divided into 2 subgroups: the 1st subgroup included infants weighing 1000–1500 g (n=52), these are children with very low body weight (VLBW), and The 2nd subgroup included children weighing less than 1000 g (n=49), that is, with extremely low body weight (ELBW). Children conceived naturally were included in the comparison group, which was also divided into 2 subgroups: the first (n=46) – patients with VLBW, the second subgroup (n=42) – patients with ELBW.
Results. When assessing the health status of premature infants conceived in various ways, it was found that children with ONMT and ENMT in the IVF group are prone to respiratory diseases, delayed neuropsychiatric development, iron deficiency anemia and allergic dermatitis (p<0.05). It was revealed that delayed speech development and psycho-emotional lability were the predominant pathologies in children with ONMI born by IVF. When children were divided into health groups, it was found that children conceived by natural pregnancy had more often health group II (p=0.006), and children born after IVF had more often health group III (p=0.005).
Conclusion. The health of premature VLBW and ELBW infants born using the IVF method is characterized by a tendency to respiratory diseases, delayed neuropsychic development, the development of anemia of prematurity, and allergic dermatitis, which allows them to be classified as “frequently ill children” (p < 0.05).