In 1993, in Finland at least 0.7% of all pregnancies ending in birth were assisted by in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The purpose of this study was to compare IVF mothers with other mothers, and the perinatal health and health care costs of IVF infants to those of other infants. The main source of information was the Medical Birth Register for 1991-1993 (n = 19,1712 pregnancies, of which 1015 were started by IVF). IVF mothers were more often older, married and primiparas. They started antenatal care earlier, had more visits than other mothers and more than 50% were hospitalized during their pregnancy. Every fourth IVF pregnancy was a multiple one. Both IVF singletons and multiples had poorer health than other infants. The new practice of implanting fewer embryos than before was introduced in 1992-1993, and a 50% decrease in triplet rate was found. At the same time, a somewhat better outcome for IVF newborns was found. However, every fourth child was still preterm or weighed < 2500 g. The health care costs for one IVF newborn from induction of pregnancy until the age of 7 days was 5.4-fold compared to other newborns. The subsequent health of IVF children has to be further studied to more fully assess the health impact of IVF.

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