A study conducted in France and published yesterday, Friday, confirmed that children born after medically assisted conception do not develop cancer more than others, with the exception of leukemia, which was noted to have a slight additional risk of contracting it.
This study, which included more than 8.5 million children born in France between 2010 and 2021, is one of the largest studies conducted to date on the subject.
Scientists from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research and the scientific interest group EpiPhar, who were joined by experts in medically assisted pregnancy, published their findings in the journal JAMA Network Open.
The study aims to compare the risk of cancer between children born after an assisted pregnancy and those born after a natural pregnancy.
“Assisted conception technologies are very new,” said epidemiologist Rosemary Dry Spira. “Many studies to date have found very heterogeneous results, and it was necessary to enhance existing information.”
The scientists studied data from France’s national health data system.
Of the group followed up to an average age of 6 or 7 years, 260,236 children (3%) were born after medically assisted fertilization. During the follow-up period, 9,256 children developed cancer, including 292 children born after medically assisted conception.
The study indicated that the risk of cancer, of various types, was not higher among these children than among those born after a normal pregnancy.
However, “a slight increase in the risk of leukemia was observed” in children born after pregnancy via in vitro fertilization, according to the study.
Dry Spira said, “Out of 20,000 children between the ages of 0 and 10 years, about 10 children will suffer from leukemia, and according to our estimates, 13 to 14 children born after conception through artificial insemination will develop this disease,” adding that the additional risk he faces Babies born after assisted pregnancies are very limited.”
For comparison, the risk of infant mortality was higher among all categories of children, with 74 deaths recorded for every 20,000 births.
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