IVF children just as healthy as their peers - Physically, mentally and emotionally

New Delhi: A new study suggests that children conceived using donated sperm via in vitro fertilization (IVF) are as healthy as their peers.

The study, which is a world-first and compiled by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), found that IVF children were healthy physically, mentally and emotionally by the time they reached school age.

David Amor, lead researcher of the study hopes the results would provide peace of mind for parents of IVF children.

It is said that the number of births from sperm donor conception has doubled in Victoria since 2010.

"Women and couples who are choosing donors put a lot of thought and effort selecting them," the report quoted Amor as telling the Australian media.

"The IVF services put a lot of effort into recruiting donors. The information the recipient gets about the donor is fairly minimal," he added.

Amor said, "There's some general health screening, but we don't know if these men are representational of the general population."

"Given IVF is undergoing a bit of a renaissance in terms of the demand, these findings should be reassuring for parents."

For the study, the mothers of 224 Victorian IVF children were asked to fill out a survey on the health and well-being of their kids as well as themselves.

While the results indicated that donor-conceived children had more special health needs than naturally-conceived children, IVF children generally had a healthier family life.

Amor said that both of those results could be explained by the parents of IVF children being more protective of their own kids.

Researchers now plans to study the health of IVF children who are now in their own child-bearing years.

(With IANS inputs)