Major study: IVF babies two-and-a-half times more likely to get cancer

A study of almost a quarter of a million newborns over 22 years has thrown up some shocking results: babies born as a result of IVF are more likely to get cancer.

Indeed, the research concludes that IVF children are two-and-a-half times more likely to develop childhood neoplasms [abnormal tissue growth associated with cancer]. Looking to ascertain an association between fertility treatments and malignancies, from 1991 until 2013 researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University Of The Negev examined 242,187 newborn babies until they were 18. The study was recently published in the American Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynecology. "Children conceived after fertility treatments are at an increased risk for pediatric neoplasms," the study concluded. Most of the babies involved in the study (98.3 percent) were conceived spontaneously while 1.1 percent were conceived via IVF. The other 0.7 percent were conceived via ovulation induction treatments. "During the follow-up period, 1,498 neoplasms (0.6 percent) were diagnosed," the study states. "Incidence density rate for neoplasms was higher among children conceived either after IVF (1.5 in 1,000 chance) or ovulation induction treatments (1.0 in 1,000 chance), as compared with naturally conceived children (0.59 in 1,000 chance)." "The research concludes that the association between IVF and total pediatric neoplasms and malignancies is significant," Prof Eyal Sheiner, who helped carry out the study, said afterwards. "With increasing numbers of offspring conceived after fertility treatments, it is important to follow up on their health," he added. Danish research from 2013 also made a link between IVF and childhood cancer, but a recent British study of 100,000 babies failed to find a significant connection.