KOLKATA: Babies conceived through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) grow differently from naturally conceived (NC) babies in the initial phase of infancy but catch up with the latter by their second birthday, a recent study has revealed. The findings of the cohort study comparing growth and neurodevelopmental outcome of an equal number of babies from both categories has been published in the Indian Journal of Paediatrics.
Doctors Saugata Acharyya and Kakoli Acharyya, both from CMRI, pitted 128 ART babies against the same number of naturally conceived ones and recorded their physical and development vitals at the time of enrolment, at six months, 12 months and 24 months. To make the comparison sound, each of the babies picked for both categories was born full-term without any defects and did not have a twin.
