Babies born from embryos placed in cryogenic storage have a higher risk of developing cancer, a new study finds.
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, found that children born from frozen embryos are particularly at risk of developing leukemia and cancers related to the central nervous system. Interestingly, the same risk was not found for babies born by other means of assisted fertilization.
Births from frozen embryos are relatively rare and represent a small fraction of all babies born with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), and therefore, there is little large-scale population data available for them. .
There are more than a million embryos currently frozen in the United States, although most will never be used. Penn Medicine reports that about one million babies were born using IVF between 1987 and 2015 – although nearly all were born using fresh embryos.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published in 2017 found that there were approximately 29,000 frozen embryos that resulted in childbirth in 2015, the most recent available data, in the United States.
Babies born from embryos frozen by freezing them are more likely to develop cancer, a new study finds. Babies born from fresh embryos are not at the same risk. Researchers aren’t sure why (file image)
The researchers, who published their findings last week in PLOS, collected data from 7.9 million children in four Scandinavian countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – for research.
Of that population, 172,000 were born using ART of some sort, and 22,630 came from frozen embryos.
The researchers found that babies born after the embryos were unshaved were more likely to develop cancer at a younger age, with leukemia and central nervous system cancers – often affecting affecting the brain or spinal cord – are the most common.
On average, for every 1,000 children born to spontaneous conception, there are 2.07 children with cancer.
Babies born from fresh embryos – which account for the majority of IVF pregnancies – have a slightly lower risk of cancer. The researchers found that 1.97 out of every 1,000 people had the disease.
Those born from frozen embryos are at the highest risk, with 2.12 out of 1,000 being diagnosed.
Babies born from frozen embryos are also often diagnosed earlier in life. The study found 30.08 cases for every 100,000 years of life – nearly double the figures from the fresh embryo group and the spontaneous birth group.
However, case levels are generally low, and the researchers do not believe this will frighten a prospective family into freezing their embryos.
Ulla-Britt Wennerholm, co-author of the study as an OBGYN, said: “The individual risk is low, whereas at the population level it could have an impact due to the large increase. in cryogenic cycles after assisted reproduction. reported by UPI.
‘Overall, there is no increase in cancer in children born after assisted reproductive techniques.’
Researchers aren’t sure why babies born from frozen embryos might be most at risk, although they do have a few theories.
‘The possible reason for a higher cancer risk in children born later [embryo freezing] unknown,’ they wrote.
‘Each type of childhood cancer has its own risk factor profile, but many childhood cancers are thought to originate in embryonic accidents and originate in the uterus.
High birth weight is associated with a higher risk of childhood cancer, and [changes to the DNA based on environment] has been suggested as a possible explanation. ‘
The number of women who freeze their eggs has skyrocketed in recent years, as many in the Western world have decided to push back on raising a family to pursue career goals.
In 2018, 13,000 women chose to have their embryos frozen, up from less than 500 nearly a decade ago in 2009.
Source: | This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk
