Mental, psychomotor, neurologic, and behavioral outcomes of 2-year-old children born after preimplantation genetic screening: follow-up of a randomized controlled trial

Objective To evaluate the effect of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. Design Prospective, assessor-blinded, follow-up study of children born to women randomly assigned to in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) with or without PGS. Setting University Medical Center, Groningen, and Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Patient(s) Fifty-four PGS children and 77 controls. Intervention(s) PGS. Main Outcome Measure(s) Mental, psychomotor, neurologic, and behavioral outcomes in 2-year-old children as measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Hempel neurologic examination, and the Child Behavior Check List. Result(s) The mental, psychomotor, and behavioral outcomes at 2 years in children born after IVF with and without PGS were similar overall. The PGS children showed lower neurologic optimality scores than the control children. Scores on all tests were within the normal range. Conclusion(s) Conception with PGS does not seem to be associated with impaired mental, psychomotor, or behavioral outcomes by age 2. However, the lower neurologic optimality scores found in the PGS children may signal less favorable long-term neurologic outcomes in PGS children. Our findings stress the need for safety evaluations with new assisted reproductive techniques before large-scale implementation.