Assisted reproduction is becoming a resource that is increasingly used by people who want to fulfill their dream of becoming parents and have difficulties achieving it. However, a recent study warns that they have found evidence indicating that children born from the frozen-thawed embryo transfer technique could have an increased risk of developing cancer.
The research, which has been published in the journal PLOS Medicine, has analyzed almost 8 million children from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden, including 22,630 born after fertility treatments with frozen-thawed embryos, 149,114 fresh embryos and 7,772,474 conceived spontaneously (without resorting to assisted reproductive techniques).
The study authors, who belong to the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, stated that according to the national health registries of the participating children, those who had been born by the freeze-thaw technique had a higher risk of developing cancer, especially leukemia, compared to children conceived with fresh embryos or spontaneously.
There is no increased risk of cancer from assisted reproduction
Specifically, it was observed that of the 22,630 children from frozen-thawed embryos, 48 developed cancer, which is 0.21%. However, it is a very small sample that could call into question the results, which is why the researchers have warned that hasty conclusions should not be drawn and that more studies are needed on this.
The sample of children with cancer born from frozen embryos is low, so hasty conclusions should not be drawn
In addition, when the assisted reproduction group was analyzed globally, regardless of the type of embryo, it was found that there was no increased risk of cancer, so people who are considering this type of method of conceiving should not be afraid. for the health of their offspring, at least until further evidence of their possible risks is found.
“A large study in the Nordic countries revealed that there is an increased risk of cancer in children born after frozen-thawed embryo transfer in assisted reproduction. The individual risk was low, while at the population level it may have an impact due to the enormous increase in freezing cycles after assisted reproduction”, explained Ulla-Britt Wennerholm, lead author of the study.
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