Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the risk of prematurity in Cameroonian children born after in vitro Fertilisation. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Conducted at the pediatric department of the Hospital Center for Research and Application in Endoscopic Surgery and Human Reproduction (HCRAESHR) in Yaoundé over eight months. PARTICIPANTS: Every newborn born after in vitro fertilisation (exposed group) and those born after spontaneous conception (non-exposed group) from a singleton pregnancy were included. Multiple pregnancies were excluded. One hundred newborns per group were recruited and matched according to the mode of delivery. INTERVENTIONS: The main outcome measure was prematurity at birth. Data were collected from the medical records of the newborns and reported on individual questionnaires. The t Student test was used to assess the differences in gestational age between the two groups. The generalised linear model using binomial probability distribution was used for multivariate analysis to determine prematurity risk factors. All results with a p-value ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Prematurity was significantly predominant in the exposed group (22% and 5%, respectively, p=0.002) compared to the non-exposed group. The risk of prematurity in the exposed group was 4.4 times higher than in the non-exposed group. After controlling for confounders (the maternal age, the sex of the baby, and maternal hypertension), this risk increased significantly from 4.4 to 7.67 (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the first evidence from our part of the world showing that in vitro fertilisation is an absolute risk of prematurity. FUNDING: None declared.