Are fertility drugs safe?
Since the 1980s, an increasing number of American women have battled infertility with drugs. The possible correlation between fertility drugs and an increased risk of ovarian cancer has led researchers to conduct numerous studies in an attempt to establish the extended effects of such treatments. The results of these studies have been conflicting. Several studies in the early 1990s identified certain fertility drugs as increasing a woman’s risk for ovarian cancer. However, a study published in February 2002 reported that ovarian cancer risk was not increased by use of fertility drugs but rather by infertility itself. Researchers compared 5,207 women with ovarian cancer and 7,705 women without the disease and found that women with endometriosis or unexplained fertility problems were 73 percent and 19 percent more likely to get the disease.(American Journal of Epidemiology, Feb, 2002)While this study was significantly larger that previous studies, more research is needed to definitively
