Long-term follow-up of children whose mothers used oral contraceptives prior to conception

Anthropometric, psychometric and hematologic measurements were made at intervals in the first 3 years of life in a cohort of 732 infants, including 177 (24.2%) whose mothers used oral contraceptives (OC) prior to conception. Analysis of the data focused on weight and height measurements at 3, 9, 12, 24 and 36 months of age; hemoglobin and hematocrit at 9 months; development quotient (DQ) at 2 years and its components, posture, coordination, language and social; and intelligence quotient (IQ) at 3 years and its verbal and nonverbal components. Analyses were made for both sexes combined and males and females separately, by examining crude means, and means adjusted through linear multiple regression for birthweight, age of child at the time of examination, height of mother, mother's weight-for-height centile, birth-order, maternal and paternal education, and maternal smoking. No significant differences were found between the children whose mothers did or did not use oral contraceptives.