Fertility drugs raise leukaemia risk in kids

Women who pop fertility pills to conceive can raise their future children’s risk of developing leukaemia, says a new study.

Researchers in France found that children were 2.6 times more likely to become ill with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common type of childhood leukaemia, if their mothers had been treated with ovary-stimulating drugs.

They had a 2.3-fold increased risk of suffering the rarer form of the disease, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Children conceived naturally after their mothers waited over a year to get pregnant had a 50 per cent greater-than-normal likelihood of developing ALL, the Daily Mail reported.

But, no heightened risk of childhood leukaemia was associated either with in-vitro fertilisation or artificial insemination, say the researchers.

“It has always been hypothesised that assisted reproductive technologies may be involved in the onset of childhood cancer as they involve repeated treatment at the time of conception and or manipulation of the sperm and egg. And it is now established that a majority of acute leukaemia have a pre-natal (pre-birth) origin.

“The findings indicate that more research is now needed to investigate more closely the link between specific types of fertility drugs and what role the underlying causes of infertility may play in the potential development of childhood leukaemia,” Dr Jeremie Rudant at the French research institute INSERM, who led the study, said.

A total of 2,445 French children and their mothers took part in the study, comprising 764 children who were diagnosed with leukaemia and 1,681 who were free of the disease.

Mothers were asked if they had taken more than a year to conceive a child, and questioned about the treatments they had received.

Dr Rudant said: “Previous studies have suggested a link between infertility treatments and acute childhood leukaemia but there haven’t been many studies, most of them have been small and they focused either on IVF or hormonal treatment.

“Our study was much larger and it’s the first time that a specific increased risk linked to fertility drugs has been found.”