2024-05-08 17:00:00
A French team publishes in the journal JAMA Network Open the results of a large study that aims to compare the cancer risk of children conceived by medically assisted fertilization (AMP) and those of naturally conceived children.
Researchers from Inserm, the scientific interest group EPI-PHARE (ANSM/Cnam) and experts from Medically Aided Reproduction (AMP) carried out their research on more than 8.5 million children, born in France in 2010 and 2021, including almost 260,000 conceived by AMP. All were followed on average until a median age of 6.7 years.
One additional case of leukemia per 5,000 births per AMP
Results: “the risk of cancer, all types combined, was not higher in children conceived after ART than in children conceived naturally,” notes Inserm in a press release dated May 3. In detail, 9,256 children developed cancer, including 292 children conceived by AMP.
However, the researchers observed a small increase in the risk of leukemia in children conceived by in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). “This increase is very small, on the order of one additional case per 5,000 newborns conceived by IVF or ICSI who have reached 10 years. It requires confirmation,” notes Inserm.
What development in the long term?
ART affects approximately 1 in 30 births. The most used techniques are artificial insemination and IVF with or without ICSI. Several “still limited and heterogeneous” data have suggested increases in the risk of certain health conditions, in particular cancer, among the children conceived by AMP. This is why the French team conducted this large-scale study.
Researchers will continue to monitor the children to determine the long-term risk of cancer. “It is also necessary to continue the research work to understand which mechanisms related to ART techniques or fertility disorders in parents can induce an increase in the risk of leukemia, if this is confirmed,” adds the national institute.
Source: Inserm
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