Analyzing the dynamic measurement of growth and development in children born after the transplantation of poor quality blastocyst embryos: a propensity matching study

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to observe the dynamic measurement of growth and development in children (0–3 years) after transplantation of low-quality frozen-thawed single blastocysts.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study conducted from January 2016 to December 2019 at a single center. The follow-up data of the children were obtained from the Jiangsu Province Maternal and Child Database. A total of 350 singleton live births were included. Based on the blastocyst score, the live births were divided into good-quality blastocyst embryo (GQE) group (315 live births) and poor-quality blastocyst embryo (PQE) group (35 live births). To improve statistical efficiency and control for potential confounding factors, singletons conceived from PQEs were matched with a 3:1 ratio according to couple ages, BMI, occupation and women AMH levels. Ultimately, 32 children in the PQE group and 95 children (with one missing data) in the GQE group were included in the final analysis.

Results

After matching for parents’ age, BMI, occupation and maternal serum AMH level, there was no significant difference in growth and development of children between the PQE group and GQE group. However, the E2 level on trigger days, the rate of 2PN oocyte, and blastocyst formation rate in the PQE group were significantly lower than in the GQE group (p < .05). The number of embryo transfers (ETs) in the PQE group was higher than in the GQE group (p < .0001). The rate of cesarean section in the PQE group was significantly higher than in the GQE group (p < .05). The height (at 3 months) and head circumference (at 12 months) in the PQE group were lower than in the GQE group (p < .05).

Conclusions

Transplantation of PQEs did not affect the growth and development of offspring (0–3 years) compared to good-quality blastocysts. However, the oocyte and embryo development potential was lower in the PQE group than in the GQE group. These results provide clinical reference that the transfer of PQE could be acceptable for patients with only PQE embryos.

Keywords:

• Growth and development
• good-quality blastocyst embryo
• poor-quality blastocyst embryo
• embryo development potential
• offspring

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to everyone participating in this study.

Author contributions

Study design and writing: Chunmei Yu and Lingmin Hu; data collection: Lin Feng, Wanchao Zhang and Xiaoyu Wang; data analysis: Lijing Bai and Li Chen. The authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethical approval

The study and the protocols used were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Changzhou Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital (17020490718).

Disclosure statement

All authors have no conflicting interests.

Data availability statement

The data used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Clinical Research Project of Changzhou Medical Center, Nanjing Medical University (CMCC202206); National Key R&D Program “Fertility Health and Health Security for Women and Children”: Clinical Cohort and Intervention Study on Genetic Problems in Assisted Reproduction Offspring (2021YFC2700602).