Cancer Risk Among Children Born After Fertility Treatment

Menée à l'aide de données du registre français "EPI-MERES" portant sur 8 526 306 enfants nés sur la période 2010-2021 (durée moyenne de suivi : 6,7 ans ; âge moyen : 6,4 ans), cette étude analyse l'association entre une naissance après recours aux techniques de procréation médicalement assistée et le risque de cancer pédiatrique (9 256 cas) en fonction de la technique utilisée et par localisation

Résumé en anglais

Using information from the French National Mother-Child Register, Rios et al assess the risk of childhood cancer among more than 8.5 million children born between 2010 and 2021 (with follow-up to June 2022) by comparing those born after fertility treatment with those conceived naturally. The authors found no overall increased risk of any childhood cancer among children born after fertility treatment with artificial reproduction technologies (ART; ie, fresh embryo transfer [ET] and frozen embryo transfer [FET]) and artificial insemination. However, in analyses of specific cancer types, children born after FET had an increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.61 (95% CI, 1.04-2.50). Furthermore, in an analysis of a restricted cohort of children born between 2010 and 2015, the risk of leukemia was also significantly increased among children born after fresh ET, with an HR of 1.42 (95% CI, 1.06-1.92). The major limitations of studies published to date include small sample sizes, leading to imprecise risk estimates, and self-reported retrospectively collected data, leading to potential recall bias. The study by Rios et al is the largest to date based on high-quality registry data and thus adds great value to the published literature.