Birth Outcomes in Single Motherhood ‘by Choice’: a Register Study of Children Conceived through Medically Assisted Reproduction

Alina Pelikh , University College London
Hanna Remes, University of Helsinki
Mine Kühn, Tilburg University
Pekka Martikainen, University of Helsinki
Alice Goisis, UCL

As the use of infertility treatments increases globally, understanding its impact on children's health outcomes is crucial. Our aim was to evaluate birth outcomes among children born to single mothers through Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR), a rapidly growing and under studied group. Using Finnish population register data from 1996-2020, we compared birth weight; gestational age; low birth weight (LBW, <2500 grams), and preterm birth (<37 weeks)) of first children born to single MAR mothers (n=2763) to outcomes of children born to single mothers who conceived spontaneously (SC; n=45 168) and children born to partnered mothers through MAR (n=38 693) or SC (n=413 326). We compared the outcomes before and after accounting for differences in maternal socio-demographic and health characteristics (maternal age, education, income, smoking, mental health), and multiplicity. Children conceived by single MAR mothers had, on average, a higher prevalence of LBW (8.0%) and prematurity (10.0%), compared to children of single SC mothers (5.7% and 6.2% respectively) and children of partnered SC mothers (4.3% and 5.5% respectively). However, their birth outcomes were generally better than those of children born to partnered MAR mothers (9.7% LBW, 11.8% premature). In the adjusted analyses, differences between birth outcomes of single MAR mothers and partnered SC mothers fully attenuated, while children born to single SC and MAR partnered mothers had worse outcomes. The results suggest that the advantaged characteristics of single MAR mothers offset the potential negative effects of both MAR treatments and single motherhood on birth outcomes.

See paper

 Presented in Session 89. Flash Session Medically Assisted Reproduction and Infertility