Research indicates that children born with IVF may have an increased chance of developing childhood leukemia.
Scientists found that compared to children born naturally, those conceived using frozen embryos had a 61% higher chance of acquiring blood cancer in later life.
41 percent of babies conceived through IVF with fresh embryos also had an increased risk.
However, other experts suggested that the technology might not be at fault. Rather, they hypothesized that the results could be explained by the fact that older and less physically fit couples—who are more likely to utilize IVF in the first place—have a higher likelihood of producing children with leukemia overall.
The results of a study conducted by French researchers that followed over 8.2 million children “must be interpreted with caution.”
Additionally, charities urged parents not to panic and emphasized that there is still a “low” chance that children produced through IVF will get cancer.
Although the study was “well-conducted,” according to Dr. Richard Francis, Deputy Director of Research at Blood Cancer UK, parents who have had children through IVF or those thinking about having children shouldn’t be concerned.
“Since this was done in a different healthcare system from our own, and since there are relatively few children with blood cancer there, results from this one study should be interpreted cautiously,” he stated.
Crucially, this study is unable to establish a clear link between the risk of blood cancer and mechanically assisted conception.
“This is the message to everyone who has been diagnosed with blood cancer: you are not to blame.”
“There are several risk factors for blood cancer that all interact, with things like your age, sex, and ethnicity playing a significant role too,” he continued. “Risk factors are not the same as causes.”
It’s crucial to keep in mind that there is still a minimal chance of childhood leukemia.
“These findings shouldn’t worry those going through assisted conception or those who have a young child from it, but if you do have any concerns, you should speak with your healthcare team.”
All of the study’s participants’ children were listed in the French National Mother-Child Register between 2010 and 2021. Out of them, 2,729 had a leukemia diagnosis over an average six-year follow-up period.
The greatest risk was associated with babies conceived from frozen embryos, with 69 incidents annually per million infants.
The risk for individuals conceived from fresh embryos was 52 instances per million. There are 48 spontaneously conceived babies for every million people.
The results “suggest that children born after fresh embryo transfer or frozen embryo transfer had a higher risk of leukaemia,” the researchers wrote in the journal Jama Network Open.
The French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety led the team of health authorities from across France, but they noted that evaluating the risk of children malignancies is difficult due to their rarity.
“Therefore, these findings must be interpreted with caution,” they continued.
The study contained a significant omission, according to Dr. Channa Jayasena, an expert in reproductive endocrinology at Imperial College London who was not engaged in the research.
“The primary issue I have with the results is that they don’t seem to be adjusted for parental age,” she stated.
“Natural parents are more likely to be younger and in better physical shape than couples who require infertility treatments. “We are aware that a parent’s health can have an impact on a pregnancy’s outcome.
Specifically, growing older damages DNA, which lowers the quality of eggs and sperm.
“Just like with Down syndrome, it is already known that older parents are slightly more likely to have children with leukemia.”
But he also said it was important to keep in mind that most children born through infertility treatments are healthy, and that IVF and other similar technologies played a key role in assisting women in becoming pregnant in contemporary Britain.
According to him, “shifts in society mean that more women need to secure stable employment before having children.”
“It is not helpful medical advice, in my opinion, to just advise women to have children sooner.
“Rather, we ought to concentrate on lowering modifiable risk factors, like smoking, for childhood leukemia.”
Blood Cancer UK estimates that 650 children and young adults in Britain receive a leukemia diagnosis each year.
For children under 15, leukemia is the most frequent cancer, regardless of kind.
Five years following diagnosis, the most prevalent kind of the cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has an overall survival rate of over 90%, according to Cancer Research UK.
The statistics, according to Rachel Cutting, Director of Compliance and Information at the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the reproductive regulator in Britain, is actually favorable for IVF couples.
The findings of this study, she noted, “show that the risk of leukemia did not differ significantly between children conceived naturally and those born after assisted reproduction.” This is heartening.
According to the most recent data from the HFEA show, almost 55,000 British people underwent IVF in 2021.
The cost of a single cycle of fertility treatment can reach £5,000, but for couples who are having trouble becoming pregnant, it’s often the first option.
Additionally, data points to an increase in the number of older mothers, who are more likely to require reproductive treatments.
Experts surmise that the increase is related to women choosing to pursue occupations in their youth and having children later in life.
According to their data, the success rates for IVF vary, ranging from 41% for those under 35 to 6% for those over 44.
Women under 40 who are having difficulty conceiving naturally should have three rounds of infertility treatment on the NHS, according to current official guidelines.
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