Possible Connection Between IVF and Ovarian Cancer Explored

Researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital matched every woman undergoing IVF treatment in Denmark from the year 1994 until 2015. Out of 58,472 women treated with IVF or ICSI and 549,210 women who were not treated (the control group), the research team found that assisted reproductive treatment (ART) “was not associated with a long-term increased risk of ovarian cancer which would be expected if caused by ovarian stimulating hormones.” The results did, however, show a somewhat higher overall risk of ovarian cancer among the ART women as opposed to the non-ART control group. Moreover, comparably higher rates of ovarian cancer were seen among women who had never given birth and in the ART women who had a reason for infertility.
Controversy, ART treatment where the cause of infertility was in the male partner was connected with a lower risk of ovarian cancer. Such irregularities in the research study indicated that an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer was not associated with ovarian stimulation during IVF treatment but rather with infertility or infertility-causing diseases.