IVF at a young age increases the risk of developing breast cancer in women
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Australian scientists have found that the passage of the procedure of in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a young age increases the risk of developing breast cancer in women, reports FOX News. To this conclusion came a group of researchers led by Louise Stewart (Louise Stewart) from the University of Western Australia. A report on their work is published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Stewart and her colleagues examined data from more than 21,000 women who were being treated for infertility in Western Australia's medical facilities between 1983 and 2002. The age of all participants of the study was within the interval from 20 to 44 years.
According to the results of work, about 13,6 thousand women received infertility medicament therapy. The rest of the participants, in addition to prescribing drugs, also underwent an IVF procedure.
The researchers found that breast cancer developed in 1.7 percent of Australians, who were treated only with drugs. In the second group, this figure was about two percent. At the same time, women who underwent ECO under the age of 25 had a 56% higher risk of developing cancer than among their peers who were medically treated. However, among the 40-year differences in the risk indicators were not recorded.
Stewart suggested that an increased risk of developing malignant breast tumors is associated with increased levels of estrogen in women's blood as a result of IVF. The difference in indicators in different age groups, she attributed to various causes of infertility in girls and women of middle age.
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