Six-year follow-up of children born from vitrified oocytes.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Are children born from vitrified-warmed oocytes physically or mentally different from naturally conceived children?


DESIGN
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) of vitrified-warmed oocytes was performed for 282 patients (307 cycles) from August 2000 to March 2020. Long-term follow-up of children born from vitrified-warmed oocytes was performed via a questionnaire that was sent to the parents at regular intervals from 3 to 72 months after the child's birth. Questionnaires were sent 11 times from birth to the age of 6 years. The development of motor function and mental status was evaluated as the primary outcome, based on the reported data. Subsequently, patients were divided into four groups by age at oocyte retrieval (20-29, 30-34, 35-39, and 40 years or older). Clinical outcomes were calculated as a secondary outcome.


RESULTS
For the 282 patients, the birth of 116 babies was reported (110 singletons and three sets of twins), and seven cases are, at the time of writing, unconfirmed. The results of the survey found physical parameters in singletons to be equivalent to the nationally reported average data issued by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan.


CONCLUSION
This is the first follow-up report of children born from vitrified-warmed oocytes followed by ICSI. The data suggested that the responses from the study participants on the mental and physical development of children were comparable to the data reported by the government, although more responses from patients should be collected to allow further study.
['Takeshige|Yuya|Y|', 'Takahashi|Mizuho|M|', 'Hashimoto|Tomoko|T|', 'Kyono|Koichi|K|']
D000328:Adult D002648:Child D002657:Child Development D002675:Child, Preschool D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D008297:Male D009865:Oocytes D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic D058989:Vitrification D055815:Young Adult
Follow-up of children Clinical outcome Oocyte vitrification