Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is associated with an increased risk of childhood cancers, according to a population-based cohort study published in JAMA Network Open.1

Children conceived via ART had a higher risk of childhood cancers than children conceived naturally or children whose parents had an infertility diagnosis but did not use ART, researchers found. 

The researchers analyzed registry data from 2004 to 2017, encompassing 2,308,016 parent-child triads in Taiwan. There were 1,794,555 cases of natural conception, 466,309 cases of subfertility with non-ART conception, and 47,152 cases of ART conception. 

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Over a median follow-up of 6 years, 1880 children developed cancer. The incidence rate per million person-years was 203.1 for children conceived by ART, 121.4 for children conceived naturally, and 137.6 for children born to subfertile parents who did not use ART. 

Children conceived by ART had a significantly higher risk of any childhood cancer than children conceived naturally (hazard ratio [HR], 1.58; 95% CI, 1.17-2.12). This association was driven primarily by an increased risk of leukemia (HR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.20-3.70) and hepatic tumors (HR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.28-5.73).

Children conceived by ART also had a significantly higher risk of any childhood cancer than children conceived by subfertile parents who did not undergo ART (HR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.04-1.95). Again, this association was driven primarily by an increased risk of leukemia (HR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.03-3.43) and hepatic tumors (HR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.05-5.52).

“The increased cancer risk associated with ART conception was not mediated by preterm birth or low birth weight,” the researchers noted.

The team did find that the use of fresh embryos was associated with an increased risk of cancer, but the use of frozen embryos was not. This finding is counter to the results of another recent study, which showed an increased risk of childhood cancer with frozen-thawed embryos but not with fresh embryos or with ART overall.2 

References

  1. Weng S-S, Huang Y-T, Huang Y-T, et al. Assisted reproductive technology and risk of childhood cancers. JAMA Netw Open. Published online August 31, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.30157
  2. Sargisian N, Lannering B, Petzold M, et al. Cancer in children born after frozen-thawed embryo transfer: A cohort study. PLoS Med. Published online September 1, 2022. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004078

Topics:

General Oncology Hematologic Cancers Leukemia Pediatric Cancer