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In vitro fertilization
Children born to mothers who underwent fertility treatments have an increased risk of developing pediatric neoplasms, according to research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The study showed an increased risk of malignancies and benign tumors among children conceived after fertility treatments.
However, the risk of leukemias and lymphomas among these children was not significantly different from the risk among children who were conceived spontaneously.
The study was a population-based cohort analysis of babies born between 1991 and 2013 at Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, Israel, with follow-up to age 18.
Of the 242,187 newborn infants in the study, 237,863 (98.3%) were conceived spontaneously, 2603 (1.1%) were conceived after in vitro fertilization (IVF), and 1721 (0.7%) were conceived after ovulation induction (OI) treatments.
During a median follow-up of 10.55 years, there were 1498 neoplasms reported, including 1074 benign tumors and 429 malignancies.
The rate of neoplasms per 10,000 children was 61.85 for the entire study cohort, 111.41 for the IVF group, 110.40 for the OI group, and 60.96 for the spontaneous conception group (P<0.001 for the comparison between spontaneous conception and both types of fertility treatments).
The rate of benign tumors per 10,000 children was 44.35 for the entire study cohort, 84.51 for the IVF group, 69.73 for the OI group, and 43.72 for the spontaneous conception group (P=0.002).
The rate of malignancies per 10,000 children was 17.71 for the entire study cohort, 26.89 for the IVF group, 40.67 for the OI group, and 17.44 for the spontaneous conception group (P=0.038).
The rate of leukemia per 10,000 children was 3.72 for the entire study cohort (n=90 leukemia cases total), 0 for the IVF group (n=0), 5.81 for the OI group (n=1), and 3.74 for the spontaneous conception group (n=89, P=0.56).
The rate of lymphoma per 10,000 children was 2.27 for the entire study cohort (n=55), 7.68 for the IVF group (n=2), 0 for the OI group (n=0), and 2.23 for the spontaneous conception group (n=53, P=0.15).
The researchers said the association between fertility treatments and total pediatric neoplasms or total malignancies remained significant in analyses controlled for confounders such as gestational diabetes mellitus, hypertensive disorders, preterm birth, and maternal age.
For any fertility treatment, the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for all neoplasms was 1.97, and the aHR for all malignancies was 1.96.
For IVF, the aHR was 2.48 for all neoplasms and 1.89 for all malignancies. For OI, the aHR was 1.51 for all neoplasms and 2.03 for all malignancies.
“The research concludes that the association between IVF and total pediatric neoplasms and malignancies is significant,” said study author Eyal Sheiner, MD, PhD, of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel.
“With increasing numbers of offspring conceived after fertility treatments, it is important to follow up on their health.”
