IVF Tied To Slight Increased Risk Of Rare Childhood Cancers

Kids conceived using IVF were 28 per cent more likely than other children to be diagnosed with embryonal tumours

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“For the few cancers that seemed associated with IVF the absolute risk was still extremely rare,” said lead study author Logan Spector of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

The increased risk of cancer may be due at least in part to advanced maternal age and other health factors that lead women to try IVF in the first place, Spector and colleagues note in JAMA Pediatrics. While the results suggest it may make sense to be vigilant in monitoring IVF children for cancer, they don’t mean couples shouldn’t try to conceive this way, Spector said.

“There was no indication that any specific IVF procedure or treatment was associated with these cancers, so there is not really anything patients or their providers should be doing differently,” Spector added. “Overall these results should be reassuring to parents who have used IVF.”

Spector’s team examined data on 275,686 children conceived with IVF and 2.27 million kids conceived naturally from 2004 to 2013.