Assisted reproductive technologies had no effect on pediatric cancer risk

French scientists conducted a population-based cohort study and concluded that the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) does not affect the risk of cancer in children born with their help. The publication appeared in the journal JAMA Network Open. Paula Rios of Paris City University and colleagues analyzed data from the nationwide French EPI-MERES registry for all children born alive between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2021, who were followed through June 30, 2022 (more than 8.5 million children in total). 260236 (3.1 percent) of these were born via ART, including 133965 (1.6 percent) after fresh embryo transfer, 66165 (0.8 percent) after frozen embryo transfer, and 60106 (0.7 percent) after artificial insemination.

Over a median follow-up period of 6.7 years, a total of 9256 cancers were reported. For fresh and frozen embryo transfer and artificial insemination, the number of cancer cases detected were 165, 57, and 70, respectively. The risk of cancer was not statistically significantly different from that of naturally conceived children in all these cohorts: hazard ratio (HR) 1.12 (95% confidence interval 0.96-1.31); 1.02 (95% confidence interval 0.78-1.32); and 1.09 (95% confidence interval 0.86-1.38), respectively. A significant increase in risk, HR 1.61 (95 percent confidence interval 1.04-2.50; added risk 23.2 per million person-years), was observed for acute lymphoblastic leukemia among those born after frozen embryo transfer, but only 20 such patients were reported.