STUDY QUESTION Is the growth pattern of children conceived by ART different compared to naturally conceived children. SUMMARY ANSWER Both ART and underlying parental subfertility may contribute to differences in early childhood growth between children conceived with and without the use of ART. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Children conceived by ART weigh less and are shorter at the time of delivery. The extent to which differences in growth according to mode of conception persist during childhood, and the role of underlying parental subfertility, remains unclear. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION We conducted a prospective study population-based study. We studied 81 461 children participating in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and 544 113 adolescents screened for military conscription. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Conception by ART as registered in the Medical Birth Registry. We compared maternally reported length/height and weight among children in MoBa from mid-pregnancy to age 7 according to mode of conception using mixed-effects linear regression. Differences in self-reported height and weight at 17 years of age at screening for military conscription were assessed with linear regression. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE At birth, children conceived by ART were shorter (boys −0.3 cm; 95% CI, −0.5 to −0.1), girls −0.4 cm; 95% CI, −0.5 to −0.3) and lighter (boys −113 grams; 95% CI, −201 to −25, girls −107 grams; 95% CI, −197 to −17). After birth, children conceived by ART grew more rapidly, achieving both greater height and weight at age 3. Children conceived by ART had a greater height up to age 7, but did not have a greater height or weight by age 17. Naturally conceived children of parents taking longer time to conceive had growth patterns similar to ART children. Children born after frozen embryo transfer had larger ultrasound measures and were longer and heavier the first 2 years than those born after fresh embryo transfer. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTIONS Selection bias could have been introduced due to the modest participation rate in the MoBa cohort. Our reliance on self-reported measures of length/height and weight could have introduced measurement error. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS : Our findings provide reassurance that offspring conceived by ART are not different in height, weight or BMI from naturally conceived once they reach adolescence. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) Research Council of Norway; Medical Research Council; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The authors have no competing interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER N/A.

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Background Substantial research has found that women assess their health as poor relative to men, but the reasons for this are not fully understood. Military women are characterised by good health and the ability to work in an archetypically male culture. Thus, studies on the gender pattern of self-reported health in military personnel could generate hypotheses for future research on the possible associations between gender and health. However, such studies are rare and limited to a few countries. The aim of this study was to examine self-reported physical and mental health in Norwegian military women. Methods We compared responses on self-reported health of 1068 active duty military women in Norway to those of active duty military men (n = 8100). Further, we compared the military women to civilian women working in the Norwegian Armed Forces (n = 1081). Participants were stratified into three age groups: 20–29; 30–39; and 40–60 years. We used Pearson Chi-square tests, Students t-tests and regression models to assess differences between the groups. Results The military women in our study reported physical illness and injuries equal to those of military men, but more military women used pain relieving and psychotropic drugs. More military women aged 20–29 and 30–39 years reported mental health issues than military men of the same age. In the age group 30–39 years, twice as many military women assessed their health as poor compared to military men. In the age group 40–60 years, more military women than men reported musculoskeletal pain. Military women used less smokeless tobacco than military men, but there were few differences in alcohol consumption and smoking. Military women appeared to be more physically healthy than civilian women, but we found few differences in mental health between these two groups. Conclusion Most military women reported physical symptoms equal to those of military men, but there were differences between the genders in mental health and drug use. More favourable health compared to civilian women was most evident in the youngest age group and did not apply to mental health.

ObjectivesThis study examines whether there is a difference between urban versus suburban and rural adolescents in their use of health services following two types of self-harm distinguished as self-harm with or without suicide intent.SettingA nationwide cross-sectional school survey of 11 406 Norwegian adolescents aged 13–19 years in 73 Norwegian junior and senior high schools.ParticipantsAdolescents who reported self-harm and provided valid responses to a follow-up question about having received subsequent help or treatment (n=959) were included in the study. Adolescents were divided into urban versus suburban and rural depending on: (1) the location of municipalities where they attended school and (2) the place of residence. Associations between urban versus suburban and rural areas and the use of health services following self-harm were assessed in those who self-harmed with and without suicide intent.Primary outcome measureUse of health services following self-harm.Results1 in 4 adolescents reported using health services following self-harm. Adolescents reporting self-harm with suicide intent were more likely to use health services than those who self-harmed without suicide intent. Following self-harm without suicide intent, adolescents in urban areas were four times more likely to use health services than adolescents in suburban and rural areas. There was no statistically significant area difference in the use of health services following self-harm with suicide intent.ConclusionsThis study found a geographical variation in the use of health services following self-harm without suicide intent, but not following self-harm with suicide intent. Differences in perception of self-harm and help-seeking behaviour between areas and different accessibility to services are suggested as possible explanations. There is a need to better understand how the interplay between individual characteristics and accessibility to services influences adolescents’ use of health services following self-harm. We suggest that multilevel models are a valuable approach to achieve this goal.

We found an increased risk of death from suicide and unintentional injuries/accidents in men who had minor and major mental health impairment at age 17-19 years.