Offspring of Male Cancer Survivors Have Slightly Higher Risk of Congenital Birth Abnormalities

Extract

The incidence of major congenital birth abnormalities was slightly higher in the offspring of male cancer survivors compared with children of fathers with no history of cancer, according to a study published online February 8th in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute .

The increasing number of male cancer survivors has given rise to concerns about the health of their offspring. Although previous studies on children conceived naturally have been reassuring about the health of the children, very few studies have looked at results among children conceived through assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) such as in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmatic sperm injection.

To determine the effects of paternal cancer and ARTs on pregnancy outcomes, O. Ståhl, M.D., Ph.D., of Lund University Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues, did a cohort study of children born in Sweden and Denmark between 1994 and 2004. Using the Danish Civil Registration System, the Swedish Total Population Register and the Swedish Multigenerational Register, and the Danish and Swedish cancer registries, the researchers identified 8670 children with a paternal history of cancer, 8162 of whom were conceived naturally and 508 through ARTs.