Meta-Analysis on the Possible Association Between In Vitro Fertilization and Cancer Risk

Abstract

This meta-analysis suggests that there is no significant association between IVF and cancer risk. A possible beneficial effect was shown in the subgroup of breast cancer meta-analysis. Excess risk of ovarian cancer was observed in the analysis of all the studies and subgroups. Special attention should be made to women who may be diagnosed with cancer during or shortly after IVF treatment. Studies of high methodological quality with larger population and longer follow-up are required to provide more evidences for a better understanding of the association.

Fertility drugs, reproductive strategies and ovarian cancer risk

“…Some studies suggested an association among the use of ovulation-inducing drugs, IVF, and ovarian cancer risk, but only few cases of ovarian cancer have been described in women followed in IVF programs [41,42]. Therefore the relationship between IVF and development of ovarian cancer is still under investigation (Table 2).…”

“…Two recent meta-analyses have recently been published on this topic [41,42]. In the study of Siristatidis et al [41], nine cohort studies were analyzed (109969 women exposed to IVF with 76 cases of ovarian cancer).…”

“…In the meta-analysis published by Li et al in 2013 [42], eight cohort studies involving 746455 patients were included. In this work authors evaluated the association between IVF and all-site cancers and in particular observed a RR of 1.59 (95% CI:1.24-2.03) for ovarian cancer.…”

“…Some works suggest the hypothesis that fertility drugs do not significantly contribute to ovarian cancer risk [9-14,23-29,35,41,43,45,47,48]. Other studies have reported an increased risk of ovarian cancer in women treated with fertility drugs [15-17,21,22,42,44,46,49-51]. Finally some studies have reported an increased risk especially for borderline ovarian tumors [16,21,22,36,42,49,50].…”

What are the risks of the assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and how can they be minimized?

“…A meta-analysis involving eight cohort studies including almost 750,000 participants failed to find a significant association between cancer risk and women undergoing IVF [27]. Utilizing data from Western Australia, other investigators found no evidence of an increased risk of ovarian cancer following IVF in women who give birth but some uncertainty (nonsignificant) regarding ovarian cancer following IVF in women remaining nulliparous [28].…”