Incidence of cancer in children born after in-vitro fertilization

Evaluation of the long-term health of children born using in-vitro fertiliz ation (TVF) provides important information to clinicians and consumers. Unt il very recently, there have been no published data on the incidence of can cer in children conceived as a result of IVF, despite a number of case repo rts of neuroblastoma in children conceived using fertility drugs. This stud y used a record-linkage cohort design to investigate the incidence of cance r in children born after IVF. The study included all conceptions using assi sted reproductive technologies between 1979 and 1995 at two clinics in Vict oria, Australia that resulted in a live birth. Data on births were linked w ith a population-based cancer registry to determine the number of cases of cancer that occurred. The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was calculated by comparing the observed number of cases to the expected number of cases. The final cohort included 5249 births. The median length of follow-up was 3 years, 9 months (range 0-15 years). In all, 4.33 cases of cancer were exp ected and six were observed, giving a SIR of 1.39 (95% CI 0.62-3.09). This study found that children conceived using IVF and related procedures did no t have a significantly increased incidence of cancer in comparison to the g eneral population.