Health and development of children conceived by assisted reproductive technologies

Between 3 and 5% of children born in Germany are conceived by treatments of assisted reproduction (ART). These pregnancies have a more complicated course with more perinatal complications compared to spontaneously conceived pregnancies of fertile couples. Subfertility seems to be a risk factor for these complications, since subfertile couples who conceive spontaneously face similar risks to those with pregnancies after ART. However, other risk factors seem to be involved, including ovarian stimulation, which leads to a nonphysiologically developed endometrium. A child who is born at term and healthy is most likely to develop normally. There is still ongoing discussion whether there is a slightly increased oncological risk for these children, although the absolute risk remains low. Surrogate markers of later fertility in boys born after ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) give rise for concern. However, more data are necessary. © 2018, Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.