[Australia] - "Research shows IVF adults are as healthy as the rest of us"

MICHAEL Dwyer never planned on becoming a dad at 25. He was conceived by IVF himself and he always assumed he would have fertility problems, so an accidental pregnancy with long-term partner Katie was never on the cards.

“I didn’t 100 per cent know I couldn’t have kids, but I just thought because dad struggled I would probably struggle too,” Mr Dwyer said.

But along came Willow, and the miracle of natural conception took this dad by surprise.

“It’s beautiful, we weren’t trying, it was definitely not planned but he is amazing. I’m very happy,” Mr Dwyer said.

The small business owner from Grafton is a walking ­example of the results found in a study by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

It found people who were conceived through IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have grown up into healthy adults.

The world’s largest study of people conceived via IVF found they compared well to those conceived naturally.
The study looked at 547 IVF-conceived adults aged ­between 18 and 29 years and compared them to 549 naturally conceived adults.

The research revealed similarities in weight, the onset of puberty and educational outcomes, quashing fears that IVF-produced children were more prone to health problems.

Although mothers reported a higher rate of hospitalisation, asthma and hayfever in children conceived via ART, there was no evidence of increased rates of attention deficit or hyperactivity disorder among ART children.

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