IVF Babies Are More Likely to Get Cancer
IVF Babies Are More Likely to Get Cancer
May 8, 2017
New York Post — Millions of women around the world are turning to IVF to get pregnant, but a new BGU study has found these babies are more likely to develop cancer later in life.
The study was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The researchers examined 242,187 newborn babies from 1991 to 2013 until they were 18, to see whether there was an association between fertility treatments and malignancies.
Prof. Eyal Sheiner, M.D, Ph.D.
“Children conceived after fertility treatments are at an increased risk for pediatric neoplasms [abnormal tissue growth associated with cancer],” the researchers conclude.
Most of the babies involved in the study were conceived spontaneously (98.3 percent) while 1.1 percent were conceived via IVF, with another 0.7 percent conceived via ovulation induction treatments.
The study found that it is 2.5 times more likely that a child born through IVF will develop neoplasms, as opposed to a child conceived naturally.
“Incidence density rate for neoplasms was higher among children conceived either after IVF (1.5 in 1,000) or ovulation induction treatments (1.0 in 1,000), as compared with naturally conceived children (0.59 in 1,000).”
“The research concludes that the association between IVF and pediatric neoplasms and malignancies is significant,” says Prof. Eyal Sheiner, M.D., Ph.D., vice dean of the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences, member of the University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a physician at Soroka University Medical Center.
“With increasing numbers of offspring conceived after fertility treatments, it is important to follow up on their health.”
Read more on the New York Post website >>
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