The risk of ovarian and breast cancer
There has been a suggested link between the use of fertility drugs and the risk of ovarian, breast and endometrial cancer. Current studies have suggested the following with regards to each respective cancer:
Ovarian cancer
There are controversial studies linking ovarian stimulation drugs to ovarian cancer. The evidence is observational and there are significant problems in many of these studies, particularly in subgroup analysis, and by inability to control for other cancer confounding factors. Some studies have shown that infertile women who use infertility drugs but still never achieve pregnancy had a significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer compared to women who had no infertility problem.
Breast cancer
There appears to be no significant increased risk of breast cancer with fertility drugs. There are controversial studies linking ovarian stimulation drugs to ovarian cancer. The evidence is observational and there are significant problems in many of these studies, particularly in subgroup analysis, and by inability to control for other cancer confounding factors. Some studies have shown that infertile women who use infertility drugs but still never achieve pregnancy had a significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer compared to women who had no infertility problem.
Jensen and colleagues analysed 54362 infertile women who were referred to Danish Fertility Centers from 1963 to 1998. They reported that the use of gonadotropins, clomifene, human chorionic gondaotrophin, and gonadotrophin releasing hormone were not associated with an overall increase in the risk of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, they found no increased risk of ovarian cancer in women who had 10 or more IVF cycles or in those who did not conceive after IVF treatments
Sources:
Rossing MA et al. 1994 N Engl J Med
Shushan A et al. 1996 Fertil Steril
Whittemore AS et al 1992 Am J Epidemiol
Brinton LA et al. 2005 Obstet Gynecol
Allan Jensen et al. 2009, BMJ
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