Risk of prostate cancer for men fathering through assisted reproduction: nationwide population based register study

To compare the risk and severity of prostate cancer between men achieving fatherhood by assisted reproduction and men conceiving naturally.

National register based cohort study.

Sweden from January 1994 to December 2014.

1 181 490 children born alive in Sweden during 1994-2014 to the same number of fathers. Fathers were grouped according to fertility status by mode of conception: 20 618 by in vitro fertilisation (IVF), 14 882 by intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and 1 145 990 by natural conception.

Prostate cancer diagnosis, age of onset, and androgen deprivation therapy (serving as proxy for advanced or metastatic malignancy).

Among men achieving fatherhood by IVF, by ICSI, and by non-assisted means, 77 (0.37%), 63 (0.42%), and 3244 (0.28%), respectively, were diagnosed as having prostate cancer. Mean age at onset was 55.9, 55.1, and 57.1 years, respectively. Men who became fathers through assisted reproduction had a statistically significantly increased risk of prostate cancer compared with men who conceived naturally (hazard ratio 1.64, 95% confidence interval 1.25 to 2.15, for ICSI; 1.33, 1.06 to 1.66, for IVF). They also had an increased risk of early onset disease (that is, diagnosis before age 55 years) (hazard ratio 1.86, 1.25 to 2.77, for ICSI; 1.51, 1.09 to 2.08, for IVF). Fathers who conceived through ICSI and developed prostate cancer received androgen deprivation therapy to at least the same extent as the reference group (odds ratio 1.91; P=0.07).

Men who achieved fatherhood through assisted reproduction techniques, particularly through ICSI, are at increased risk for early onset prostate cancer and thus constitute a risk group in which testing and careful long term follow-up for prostate cancer may be beneficial.