Extended culture may contribute to poor intellectual performance of children born after frozen embryo transfer

Jincheng Li; Wei Zhou; Shuzhe Gao; Jialin Zhao; Xiaohe Yang; Shengnan Guan; Xiaojing Chen; Linlin Cui; Zi-Jiang Chen

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108358

Extended culture may contribute to poor intellectual performance of children born after frozen embryo transfer

iScience. 2023 Nov 7;26(12):108358. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108358. eCollection 2023 Dec 15.

Authors

Jincheng Li^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Wei Zhou^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Shuzhe Gao^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Jialin Zhao^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Xiaohe Yang^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Shengnan Guan^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Xiaojing Chen^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7}, Linlin Cui^{2

3

4

5

6

7

8}, Zi-Jiang Chen^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
² Research Unit of Gametogenesis and Health of ART-Offspring, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (No.2021RU001), Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Reproductive Endocrinology of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
⁴ Shandong Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
⁵ Shandong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Reproductive Health, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
⁶ Shandong Technology Innovation Center for Reproductive Health, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
⁷ National Research Center for Assisted Reproductive Technology and Reproductive Genetics, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
⁸ Center for Reproductive Medicine, the Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
⁹ Shanghai Key Laboratory for Assisted Reproduction and Reproductive Genetics, Shanghai 200135, China.
¹⁰ Center for Reproductive Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200135, China.

Abstract

Frozen embryo transfer (FET) is becoming popular in recent years. However, whether embryos freezing or other factors may affect intellectual performance in offspring is still unknown. We compared the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) questionnaire scores between children born after fresh embryo transfer (fresh ET) and FET. They were matched in a 1:1 ratio on their sex and age (±1 month). 326 children were included in each group. We found children born after FET scored lower on the WISC-IV questionnaire (p = 0.002). In subgroup analysis, the full-scale scores are similar between fresh ET and FET in the cleavage-stage transfer group (p = 0.57). In the FET group, the blastocyst-stage transfer group had lower full-scale scores compared with the cleavage-stage transfer group (p = 0.004). Children born after FET scored lower on WISC-IV questionnaire might be linked to extended culture of embryos rather than the freezing process.

Keywords: Neurology; Reproductive medicine.