Tumors of the central nervous system among women treated with fertility drugs: a population-based cohort study

Purpose To investigate the association between fertility drugs and tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Methods This cohort study was based on The Danish Infertility Cohort and included 148,016 infertile women living in Denmark (1995-2017). The study cohort was linked to national registers to obtain information on use of specific fertility drugs, cancer diagnoses, covariates, emigration, and vital status. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all CNS tumors and separately for gliomas, meningiomas and diverse benign tumors of the brain and other parts of the CNS. Results During a median 11.3 years of follow-up, 328 women were diagnosed with CNS tumors. No marked associations were observed between use of the fertility drugs clomiphene citrate, gonadotropins, gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor modulators and progesterone and CNS tumors. However, use of human chorionic gonadotropin was associated with a decreased rate of meningiomas (HR 0.49 95% CI 0.28-0.87). No clear associations with CNS tumors were observed according to time since first use or cumulative dose for any of the fertility drugs. Conclusion No associations between use of most types of fertility drugs and CNS tumors were observed. However, our findings only apply to premenopausal women and additional studies with longer follow-up time are necessary.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the association between fertility drugs and tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). The results showed no significant associations between most types of fertility drugs and CNS tumors, but further studies with longer follow-up time are necessary to draw accurate conclusions, particularly for premenopausal women.