title: Possible risk for cancer among children born following assisted reproductive technology in Israel.
abstract: Among children conceived by assisted reproductive technology (ART), increased risk of adverse birth outcomes has been observed, including multiple births, preterm births, and congenital malformations. Regarding cancer among ART-conceived children, findings are discrepant.
  
  
  
  This is a historical cohort of 9,042 ART-conceived children and 211,763 spontaneously conceived (SC) children born from 1997 through 2004. The median duration of follow-up was 10.6 years (interquartile range 9.0-12.3) in the ART group and 9.3 years (interquartile range 8.0-10.6) in the SC group. The cohort database was linked with the Israel National Cancer Registry updated until December 31, 2011 using each child's personal identification number.
  
  
  
  Twenty-one cases of cancer were identified in the ART group (2.2 per 10,000 person-years), as compared to 361 cancer cases in the SC group (1.8 per 10,000 person-years). The relative risk (RR) for overall cancer in the ART group compared to the SC group adjusted for maternal characteristics was 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.80-1.75). ART children had a significantly increased risk for specific cancers, although based on small number of cases, including two cases of retinoblastoma (RR 6.18, 95% CI 1.22-31.2), as well as four cases of renal tumors (RR 3.25, 95% CI 1.67-6.32).
  
  
  
  A statistically significant increased risk for two pediatric cancers was found. However, for overall types of cancer the risk estimate was elevated but not statistically significant. Further studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up time are warranted in order to either confirm or refute these findings.
authors.affiliation: Women and Children's Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy Research Ltd., Tel Hashomer, Israel.|Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lerner-Geva
authors.affiliation: Women and Children's Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy Research Ltd., Tel Hashomer, Israel.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boyko
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Environmental Health, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Shelley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ehrlich
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Assuta Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mashiach
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Sheba Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hourvitz
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Sheba Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Jigal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.affiliation: Shaarei-Zedek Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Margalioth
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Wolfson Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levran
authors.affiliation: Bnai-Zion Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Calderon
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Sheba Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Barzilai Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Raoul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orvieto
authors.affiliation: Hillel-Yafe Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ellenbogen
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Institute for Endocrinology and Diabetes, National Center for Childhood Diabetes, Schneider Children's Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meyerovitch
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.|Assaf-Harofeh Medical Center, IVF Unit, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ron-El
authors.affiliation: Women and Children's Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy Research Ltd., Tel Hashomer, Israel.
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farhi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000209:etiology*; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: assisted reproductive technology; childhood cancer; in vitro fertilization; intracytoplasmic sperm injection