However, the number of men who undergo this are small so the numbers of actual cases are extremely low.
Dr Avi Reichenberg, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, who led the study, said: "About 50 per cent of IVF treatments use ICSI in the UK.
Our study shows that these treatments developed to manage male infertility are associated with an increased risk for developmental disorders in the offspring.
Whilst intellectual disability or autism remain a rare outcome for IVF, being aware of the increased risk associated with certain types of IVF means offspring at risk can be identified and potentially monitored for developmental disorders.
The study, which is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analysed data from more than 2.5 million births in Sweden, of which 30,959 were conceived using IVF treatment.
They found that among those children who were conceived naturally, the risk of mental disability, defined by an IQ below 70 and an inability to perform every day skills such as learning, communication or social relationships, was just 62 out of every 100,000 births.
Standard IVF increased the risk by around 18 per cent, but when children who had been born as twins or triplets were taken into account this increase disappeared.
This is because even naturally conceived twins and triplets have an increased risk of developing a mental disability in later life, however, mothers who undergo IVF are more likely to give birth to multiple children in one pregancy.
However, among those children conceived following IVF with ICSI, the risk increased by 51 per cent compared to natural conception, with 93 out of every 100,000 developing a mental disability. This remained high even after taking twins into account.
In the UK, this would be equivalent to 22 of the 24,000 births achieved using IVF with ICSI would have an intellectual disability.
Link:
Male fertility treatment increases risk of intellectual impairment and autism in children