Fertility Drugs Dont Raise Ovarian Cancer Risk, Study Shows
The risk didnt rise even among women who underwent 10 cycles of treatment or never conceived, according to a study of 54,362 women with infertility problems led by Allan Jensen of the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen and published on the British Medical Journals Web site.
The research suggests that repeated ovulation and increased hormone exposure doesnt directly cause cancer. Previous studies had yielded conflicting results and raised concern about a link between the two, the scientists said.
The research offers “reassuring evidence for the absence of a strong association between use of fertility drugs and risk of ovarian cancer,” Jensen wrote. Still, “many of the women in the study havent yet reached the usual peak age for developing ovarian cancer.”
Jensen and colleagues at the Danish Cancer Society studied the effects of the most widely used fertility drugs in women referred to Danish fertility clinics between 1963 and 1998. Among them, 156 developed ovarian cancer. Women who dont have children have an increased risk of getting ovarian cancer.
The researchers studied hormones sold by Merck under the brand names Gonal-F and Ovidrel and by Schering-Plough as Follistim and Pregnyl. These injected drugs, which mimic naturally occurring hormones, are used to help eggs mature and to trigger ovulation.
The researchers also analyzed an oral medicine sold by Sanofi-Aventis SA as Clomid or by Merck as Serophene, which is used to stimulate ovulation and conception. There was an increased risk of ovarian cancer among women who had used the drug clomiphene in the study, though this finding may be due to chance, the researchers said.
“In a society where infertility in women and maternal age at birth of the first child are increasing, the unfavorable effects of fertility drugs should be balanced against the physical and psychological benefits of a pregnancy made possible only by the use of these drugs,” Jensen wrote.