Meta-analysis of cancer incidence in children born after assisted reproductive technologies

A meta-analysis was performed on 11 cohort studies of Assisted Reproductive Technologies ( ART) and subsequent childhood cancer, published up to February 2005, which reported comparable, nonoverlapping data, and then restricted to eight studies which presented a similar research design. The overall Standardised Incidence Ratio was 1.33 (95% CI 0.62 - 2.85), and 0.77 ( 95% CI 0.41 1.42) when the analysis was restricted to eight studies. No evidence of publication bias was observed for the overall analysis. The data are consistent with a lack of increase in risk of childhood cancer, though the amount of data on ART and cancer is still limited; larger multicentric studies as well as a pooled analysis on the available data are warranted.