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IVF at a young age increases women's risk of developing breast cancer
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Australian scientists have found that undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a young age increases the risk of breast cancer in women, FOX News reports. This is the conclusion reached by a group of researchers led by Louise Stewart from the University of Western Australia. A report on their work was published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Stewart and her colleagues examined data from more than 21,000 women who were treated for infertility in Western Australia between 1983 and 2002. All study participants were aged between 20 and 44 years.
According to the results of the work, about 13.6 thousand women received drug therapy for infertility. The remaining participants, in addition to the prescription of drugs, also underwent the IVF procedure.
The researchers found that breast cancer developed in 1.7 per cent of Australians treated with drugs alone, compared with about two per cent in the other group. Women who had IVF when they were under 25 had a 56 per cent higher risk of developing cancer than their drug-treated peers. However, there was no difference in risk among those in their 40s.
Stewart suggested that the increased risk of developing malignant breast tumors was linked to the increased levels of estrogen in women's blood as a result of IVF. She linked the differences in levels in different age groups to different causes of infertility in girls and middle-aged women.
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