Fertility Impairment

The incidence and absolute risk of fertility impairment was determined in a pan-European cohort, led by Dr. Eline van Dulmen-den Broeder of VUmc Amsterdam and her team Dr. Marleen van den Berg and Marloes van Dijk. Using newly and already collected data, PanCareLIFE researchers identified specific treatment-related, genetic (WP4) and other risk factors that are strongly associated with increased risk for female fertility impairment. Data that collected include dquestionnaires, as well as clinical data (hormonal levels in blood). Analyses included both cohort and case-control approaches. Survivors in the female fertility studies came from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Israel, the UK, Norway and the Czech Republic.

Dr. Marleen van den Berg, Dr. Eline van Dulmen-den Broeder and Marloes van Dijk, VUmc

In the first two years of the project, the WP3 team worked to identify what information about survivors they needed to collect from data providers. They worked with the data centre (WP1) and researchers in the genetics (WP4) and quality of life (WP6) teams to establish what common information they all needed to collect, and the best way to harmonise this information. The WP3 team also worked closely with their data providers to obtain ethical approval to use survivor information for the project and to assess what number of survivors would be eligible for PanCareLIFE. In year three of the project, the WP3 team supported their data providers as they collected and sent their data to the data centre. Early in year four, the WP3 team identified cases and controls, and their data providers sent further detailed treatment data for these survivors to WP1. Hormone analysis was also carried out on serum samples from 1,753 survivors. In the final year of the project, the WP3 team conducted their final analyses using the data files provided by the data centre (WP1).

The team has published a protocol paper, explaining the two studies: M. van den Berg, M van Dijk et al. ‘Fertility Among Female Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer: Protocol for Two Pan-European Studies (PanCareLIFE)’ JMIR Res Protoc. 2018 14;7(9):e10824.

Keep an eye on our Publications page where we’ll post our papers as they are published!

Data Providers