Researchers at the University of Minnesota have carried out a large-scale study to investigate the risk of cancer in children born from IVF[1]. This study, published in JAMA Paediatrics, included 2,542,533 children born between 2004 and 2013 in 14 American states, including 275,686 children conceived by IVF. “This population-based cohort study had nearly 2.5 times the number of children conceived by IVF than prior studies of the subject in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom”.
The study results indicate that the overall cancer rate per million children is 17% higher in children conceived by IVF, and that the latter have a 2.5-fold higher rate of hepatic tumours than non-IVF children. Other types of childhood cancers are found at the same frequency in both groups. Professor Logan Spector, professor of medicine and member of the University of Minnesota Cancer Centre, tempered these results by reminding us that this study does not identify whether the risk of cancer is increased by IVF itself or by the parents’ underlying infertility.
For further reading:
Higher risk of cardiovascular disease in children born through medically assisted reproduction?
Women receiving IVF increase risk of serious complications on delivery by 40%
[1] In-Vitro Fertilisation
Medical Press,