Assisted reproductive technology and the risk of pediatric cancer: A population based study and a systematic review and meta analysis

Daniella Gilboa, Gideon Koren, Yael Barer, Rachel Katz, Ram Rotem, Eitan Lunenfeld, Varda Shalev

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24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: There is controversy whether exposure to assisted reproductive technology (ART) is associated with increased risk of pediatric cancer. We aimed at calculating the overall risk of pediatric cancers after ART in a large cohort of exposed women; and to conduct a systematic review and meta- analysis of cohort studies examining overall risk of pediatric cancers after ART. Methods: All children born in Israel who were members of Maccabi Health Services (MHS) between 1999 and 2016 after ART, were linked to the Israeli Registry of Childhood Cancer (IGS) to identify those with cancer diagnosed before 16 years of age. In parallel we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational cohort studies with more than 5000 ART- exposed cases that measured pediatric cancer after ART. Results: In the cohort study, the risk ratio for pediatric cancer after ART in general was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.76–1.19). The RR was 1.09 (95% CI, 0.79–1.48) for IVF treatments. Meta- analysis of 13 cohort studies with a total of 750,138 women exposed to ART (with 1152 pediatric cancers) and 214,008,000 unexposed controls (with 30,458 pediatric cancers) did not reveal increased risk for pediatric cancers (RR 0.99; 95% CI, 0.85–1.15). Conclusions: Based on very large numbers, ART in general, and IVF in particular, are not associated with overall increased risk of pediatric cancer.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101613
JournalCancer Epidemiology
Volume63
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2019

Keywords

  • Assisted reproductive technology
  • Children
  • In vitro fertilization
  • Pediatric cancer
  • Pregnancy

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