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Paternal history of cancer may be linked to congenital abnormalities
Ståhl O. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2011;doi:10.1093/jnci/djq550.
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Children born with a paternal history of cancer were nearly 20% more likely to have major congenital abnormalities than children with no paternal history of cancer, according to study results.
The trial involved a cohort of 1,777,765 children born alive in Denmark between 1994 and 2004 and in Sweden between 1994 and 2005.
Assisted reproductive technology — including in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection — was used in 508 of 8,670 births involving a paternal history of cancer. The other 8,162 were conceived naturally. Assisted reproductive technology was used in 25,926 of 17,690,795 births not involving a paternal history of cancer.
More major congenital abnormalities were observed in children with a paternal history of cancer than in children with no paternal history of cancer, 3.7% vs. 3.2% (RR=1.17; 95% CI, 1.05-1.31). The RR was 1.17 (95% CI, 1.04-1.31) for children born naturally and 1.22 (95% CI, 0.80-1.87) for children born through assisted technologies.
The RR for any congenital abnormality was 1.12 (95% CI, 1.02-1.24). Children born with a paternal history of eye, skin and central nervous system cancers were at the greatest risk for major congenital abnormalities.
“We observed a statistically significant but modest increase in the risk of major congenital abnormalities among offspring of males with a history of cancer, independent of the mode of conception,” the researchers wrote.
Log-linear binomial models were used to determine RRs for associations between paternal history of cancer and risk for adverse birth outcomes among children conceived naturally or by assisted reproductive technology.
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