F-2010-00205 - IVF patients and subsequent cancers
27 September 2010
Summary of request
The Authority was asked for details of the number of patients, aged 35 to 44, who have received IVF/ICSI treatment who have subsequently gone on to develop cancer between 2001 and 2010.
HFEA response
The HFEA does not hold this information and therefore cannot provide the information requested.
The HFEA collects specific information on patients undergoing fertility treatment during and shortly after the treatment takes place. We do not collect data on subsequent health issues shown by patients. However, the NHS routinely collects data on all patients diagnosed with certain diseases, including cancer, through the NHS Central Register. Until recently, we have not been able to link our database to the wider NHS one because of the legislation surrounding our data; however the legislation was changed last year to permit this linkage. A study proposed by a research team at the Institute of Child Health at University College London has recently been approved in principle; the researchers plan to investigate whether taking fertility drugs, such as those used in IVF/ICSI, increase a woman’s risk of developing cancer, particularly female cancers such as breast, ovarian, endometrial and uterine. They will compare the rates of cancer in women who have taken fertility drugs with those women who have not in order to see whether there is a difference. The study is due to start early next year but it will be at least three years before the first results are known and published. Further information about this research is available via the HFEA website: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/5968.html
Page last updated: 09 August 2012