Cancer in children born after frozen-thawed embryo transfer: A cohort study

The aim was to investigate whether children born after assisted reproduction technology (ART), particularly after frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET), are at higher risk of childhood cancer than children born after fresh embryo transfer and spontaneous conception. We performed a registry-based cohor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS medicine 2022-09, Vol.19 (9), p.e1004078-e1004078
Main Authors: Sargisian, Nona, Lannering, Birgitta, Petzold, Max, Opdahl, Signe, Gissler, Mika, Pinborg, Anja, Henningsen, Anna-Karina Aaris, Tiitinen, Aila, Romundstad, Liv Bente, Spangmose, Anne Lærke, Bergh, Christina, Wennerholm, Ulla-Britt
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Biology and Life Sciences
Birth defects
Birth rate
Birth weight
Cancer
Cancer in children
Children
Classification
Codes
Cohort analysis
Complications and side effects
Congenital defects
Country of birth
Diagnosis
Embryo transfer
Embryonic development
Embryos
Ethics
Kidney cancer
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Medicine and Health Sciences
Melanoma
Morphology
Observational studies
Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine
Pediatric research
Population
Pregnancy
Reproduction
Reproductive technologies
Reproductive technology
Reproduktionsmedicin och gynekologi
Risk factors
Skin cancer
Statistics
Topography
Tumors
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Summary:The aim was to investigate whether children born after assisted reproduction technology (ART), particularly after frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET), are at higher risk of childhood cancer than children born after fresh embryo transfer and spontaneous conception. We performed a registry-based cohort study using data from the 4 Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The study included 7,944,248 children, out of whom 171,774 children were born after use of ART (2.2%) and 7,772,474 children were born after spontaneous conception, representing all children born between the years 1994 to 2014 in Denmark, 1990 to 2014 in Finland, 1984 to 2015 in Norway, and 1985 to 2015 in Sweden. Rates for any cancer and specific cancer groups in children born after each conception method were determined by cross-linking national ART registry data with national cancer and health data registries and population registries. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the risk of any cancer, with age as the time scale. Children born after FET had a higher risk of childhood cancer than children born after fresh embryo transfer and spontaneous conception. The results should be interpreted cautiously based on the small number of children with cancer, but the findings raise concerns considering the increasing use of FET, in particular freeze-all strategies without clear medical indications.
ISSN:1549-1676
1549-1277
1549-1676
DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004078