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Drugs for the treatment of infertility in 2 times increase the risk of leukemia in children
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Admission before conception of hormonal substances that are designed to stimulate the ovaries, more than doubles the risk of developing a child's leukemia.
This dependence was first established by a group of researchers under the supervision of physician Jeremie Rudant of the French research institute INSERM in Viljuff. On his own results Ruden said, speaking at the international conference on cancer diseases in children opened on April 24, 2012 in London.
The objects of this study were 2,445 mothers and children, 764 of whom were diagnosed with leukemia, and others were healthy. All mothers answered questions that affected the length of the period during which they tried to conceive a baby and what medications they took during this period of time.
It was found that in children whose mothers before the conception took substances that stimulated the ovaries, the likelihood of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) - the most common form of childhood leukemia - increased 2.6 times, and the rarest form of this disease, acute myeloid leukemia - in 2.3 times.
In addition, it was found that in children conceived by natural means, without the use of medicinal substances, but whose mothers did not have the opportunity to become pregnant for more than a year, the risk of getting acute lymphoblastic leukemia increased by 50 percent. All this forced the scientific workers to assume that the matter is probably not only in the intake of hormonal substances by mothers, but also in their reduced fertility.
The authors of the study are not yet able to explain the results. "There used to be a hypothesis that the increase in the incidence of childhood leukemia and the widespread use of infertility drug treatment are somehow linked," Rudin said. "But now, as a result of our study, it became clear for the first time that the source of acute leukemia should be sought in the pre-conception period, we need to focus on a more thorough study of the relationship between the reduced opportunity for conception in women, used with this medication and the likely development of leukemia in children. "
At the moment, stimulation of the ovaries with the help of hormonal substances of gonadotropins in the violation of ovulation is considered the leading among the known methods of treating female infertility. Traditionally, ovarian stimulation is performed before IVF and artificial insemination
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