See abstracts of studies below. Short answer: probably.
"OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between infertility drug use
and invasive breast cancer in a population-based case-control study.
DESIGN: Multicenter case-control study. SETTING: Women aged 35 to 64
years in metropolitan Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and
Seattle. PATIENT(S): The 4,575 case patients had histologically
confirmed primary invasive breast cancer. The 4,682 control subjects
were women without breast cancer identified in the same geographic
locations using randomized-digit dialing. INTERVENTION(S): A
standardized questionnaire focusing on reproductive health and family
history as well as use of oral contraceptives and other hormones and
infertility drugs was administered to all subjects. Data on the type
of breast cancer were also obtained. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Odds
ratios examining the association between use of various infertility
drugs and invasive breast cancer. RESULT(S): Overall, a history of
infertility drug use was not associated with the risk of developing
breast cancer. Compared with women who never used any fertility
medication, however, women using human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG)
for > or = 6 months or for at least six cycles had a relative risk of
breast cancer ranging between 2.7 to 3.8. CONCLUSION(S): Long-term use
of certain infertility drugs could adversely affect risk of breast
cancer. Additional confirmatory studies are needed."
"BACKGROUND: The use of fertility drugs (FDs) is steadily increasing
in Western countries and concern has been raised as to the possible
impact of fertility treatments on breast cancer risk. METHODS: We
analysed this association in the French E3N study. In this prospective
cohort, data on treatment against infertility, duration and time of
administration were collected at entry through self-administered
questionnaires. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate adjusted
relative risks (RRs). RESULTS: Among the 92 555 women from the study
population, 6602 women were treated for infertility. During the 10
year follow-up period, 2571 cases of primary invasive breast cancer
were diagnosed (183 in treated women). Our study showed no overall
significant association between breast cancer risk and treatment for
infertility (RR = 0.95, confidence interval 0.82-1.11), after surgery
or FDs, and whatever the type, the duration of use and the age at
first use of FDs. However, infertility treatment was associated with
an increased risk, of borderline significance, of breast cancer among
women with a family history of breast cancer. This last result had
limited statistical power. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence
that treatment for infertility does not influence breast cancer risk
overall. An interaction with a familial history of breast cancer is
possible but should be investigated further."
"The authors conducted a population-based, case-control study among
women aged 35-54 years to assess the influence of infertility and use
of ovulation-inducing drugs on ovarian cancer risk. The study was
conducted from 1994 to 1998 in three regions (metropolitan Atlanta,
Georgia, Detroit, Michigan, and Seattle, Washington) and included 378
cases and 1,637 controls. Data were obtained through in-person
interviews, and analysis was conducted using unconditional logistic
regression. Among parous women, the authors observed no association of
cancer risk with a history of infertility, medical evaluation for
infertility, specific types of infertility, or use of
ovulation-inducing drugs. Among nulliparous women, risk was increased
among women with a history of infertility (odds ratio = 1.6, 95%
confidence interval: 1.0, 2.6), particularly when infertility first
became manifest relatively late in reproductive life (for first
infertility at > or =30 years of age: odds ratio = 2.2, 95% confidence
interval: 1.1, 4.5); risk was not associated with medical evaluation
for infertility, specific types of infertility, or use of
ovulation-inducing drugs. Findings were similar when borderline and
invasive epithelial tumors were considered separately. While the
results of this study support the hypothesis that a subset of
nulliparous women who experience infertility may be at increased risk
of ovarian cancer, the reasons for this increase in risk remain
unclear." |
