Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Cancer Causes & Control
Published in: Cancer Causes & Control 2/2007

01-03-2007 | Original Paper

Examination of gender effect in birth weight and miscarriage associations with childhood cancer (United Kingdom)

Authors: M. Tevfik Dorak, Mark S. Pearce, Donna M. Hammal, Richard J. Q. McNally, Louise Parker

Published in: Cancer Causes & Control | Issue 2/2007

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Higher birth weight and maternal history of miscarriage has been associated with an increased risk of childhood leukemia. The possibility that this association may be sex-specific has not been explored in detail in previous studies.

Methods

In a retrospective case-control study, 732 childhood (≤14 years) cancer cases from a population-based Registry in Northern England whose hospital birth records could be accessed and 3,723 controls matched for date and hospital of birth to the cases were compared. We examined birth weight for sex-specific associations with childhood cancer. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used for statistical evaluation of associations.

Results

In acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (225 cases and 1,163 matched controls), birth weight and sex showed a strong interaction (P = 0.003). In boys with ALL, but not in girls, there was a nonlinear association with birth weight (P for trend = 0.008; OR = 3.05 for the highest quintile compared to the second lowest quintile, 95% CI = 1.40–6.64; P = 0.005). When birth weights were adjusted using UK standards for gestational age and sex, the risk associations were similar in statistical significance and magnitude. Maternal history of miscarriage showed an association with all cancers and individually with ALL. The miscarriage association with ALL was statistically significant in boys only (OR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.07–3.42; P = 0.03). A multivariable model for ALL containing other examined maternal and reproductive variables confirmed the independence of the birth weight and miscarriage associations. There was no birth weight or miscarriage associations in other cancers.

Conclusions

This study confirmed the risk associations with birth weight and miscarriages in childhood ALL. Statistically significant association of size at birth suggested marked differences in etiology between girls and boys.
Literature
1.
Linet MS, Wacholder S, Zahm SH (2003) Interpreting epidemiologic research: lessons from studies of childhood cancer. Pediatrics 112(1 Pt 2):218–232PubMed
2.
Daling JR, Starzyk P, Olshan AF, Weiss NS (1984) Birth weight and the incidence of childhood cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 72(5):1039–1041PubMed
3.
Westergaard T, Andersen PK, Pedersen JB, et al. (1997) Birth characteristics, sibling patterns, and acute leukemia risk in childhood: a population-based cohort study. J Natl Cancer Inst 89(13):939–947PubMedCrossRef
4.
Yeazel MW, Ross JA, Buckley JD, Woods WG, Ruccione K, Robison LL (1997) High birth weight and risk of specific childhood cancers: a report from the Children’s Cancer Group. J Pediatr 131(5):671–677PubMedCrossRef
5.
Schuz J, Kaletsch U, Meinert R, Kaatsch P, Spix C, Michaelis J (2001) Risk factors for neuroblastoma at different stages of disease. Results from a population-based case–control study in Germany. J Clin Epidemiol 54(7):702–709PubMedCrossRef
6.
Schuz J, Kaletsch U, Meinert R, Kaatsch P, Michaelis J (2001) High-birth weight and other risk factors for Wilms tumour: results of a population-based case–control study. Eur J Pediatr 160(6):333–338PubMedCrossRef
7.
Murray L, McCarron P, Bailie K, et al. (2002) Association of early life factors and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in childhood: historical cohort study. Br J Cancer 86(3):356–361PubMedCrossRef
8.
Okcu MF, Goodman KJ, Carozza SE, et al. (2002) Birth weight, ethnicity, and occurrence of cancer in children: a population-based, incident case–control study in the State of Texas, USA. Cancer Causes Control 13(7):595–602PubMedCrossRef
9.
Hjalgrim LL, Westergaard T, Rostgaard K, et al. (2003) Birth weight as a risk factor for childhood leukemia: a meta-analysis of 18 epidemiologic studies. Am J Epidemiol 158(8):724–735PubMedCrossRef
10.
Hjalgrim LL, Rostgaard K, Hjalgrim H, et al. (2004) Birth weight and risk for childhood leukemia in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. J Natl Cancer Inst 96(20):1549–1556PubMedCrossRef
11.
Roman E, Simpson J, Ansell P, Lightfoot T, Mitchell C, Eden TO (2005) Perinatal and reproductive factors: a report on haematological malignancies from the UKCCS. Eur J Cancer 41(5):749–759PubMedCrossRef
12.
McLaughlin CC, Baptiste MS, Schymura MJ, Nasca PC, Zdeb MS (2006) Birth weight, maternal weight and childhood leukaemia. Br J Cancer 94(11):1738–1744PubMedCrossRef
13.
Reynolds P, Von Behren J, Elkin EP (2002) Birth characteristics and leukemia in young children. Am J Epidemiol 155(7):603–613PubMedCrossRef
14.
Ross JA, Perentesis JP, Robison LL, Davies SM (1996) Big babies and infant leukemia: a role for insulin-like growth factor-1? Cancer Causes Control 7(5):553–559PubMedCrossRef
15.
Vorwerk P, Wex H, Hohmann B, Mohnike K, Schmidt U, Mittler U (2002) Expression of components of the IGF signalling system in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Mol Pathol 55(1):40–45PubMedCrossRef
16.
Albanes D, Winick M (1988) Are cell number and cell proliferation risk factors for cancer? J Natl Cancer Inst 80(10):772–774PubMedCrossRef
17.
Albanes D (1990) Energy balance, body size, and cancer. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol 10(3):283–303PubMed
18.
Hindmarsh PC, Geary MP, Rodeck CH, Kingdom JC, Cole TJ (2002) Intrauterine growth and its relationship to size and shape at birth. Pediatr Res 52(2):263–268PubMedCrossRef
19.
Storms MR, Van Howe RS (2004) Birthweight by gestational age and sex at a rural referral center. J Perinatol 24(4):236–240PubMedCrossRef
20.
Schuz J, Kaatsch P, Kaletsch U, Meinert R, Michaelis J (1999) Association of childhood cancer with factors related to pregnancy and birth. Int J Epidemiol 28(4):631–639PubMedCrossRef
21.
McNally RJ, Rowland D, Roman E, Cartwright RA (1997) Age and sex distributions of hematological malignancies in the U.K. Hematol Oncol 15(4):173–189PubMedCrossRef
22.
Pearce MS, Parker L (2001) Childhood cancer registrations in the developing world: still more boys than girls. Int J Cancer 91(3):402–406PubMedCrossRef
23.
Cartwright RA, Gurney KA, Moorman AV (2002) Sex ratios and the risks of haematological malignancies. Br J Haematol 118(4):1071–1077PubMedCrossRef
24.
Taylor GM, Dearden S, Payne N, et al. (1998) Evidence that an HLA-DQA1-DQB1 haplotype influences susceptibility to childhood common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in boys provides further support for an infection-related aetiology. Br J Cancer 78(5):561–565PubMed
25.
Dorak MT, Lawson T, Machulla HK, Darke C, Mills KI, Burnett AK (1999) Unravelling an HLA-DR association in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 94(2):694–700PubMed
26.
Dorak MT, Sproul AM, Gibson BE, Burnett AK, Worwood M (1999) The C282Y mutation of HFE is another male-specific risk factor for childhood ALL. Blood 94(11):3957–3958PubMed
27.
Dorak MT, Oguz FS, Yalman N, et al. (2002) A male-specific increase in the HLA-DRB4 (DR53) frequency in high-risk and relapsed childhood ALL. Leuk Res 26(7):651–656PubMedCrossRef
28.
Dorak MT, Lawson T, Machulla HK, Mills KI, Burnett AK (2002) Increased heterozygosity for MHC class II lineages in newborn males. Genes Immun 3(5):263–269PubMedCrossRef
29.
30.
Inskip PD, Harvey EB, Boice JD Jr, et al. (1991) Incidence of childhood cancer in twins. Cancer Causes Control 2(5):315–324PubMedCrossRef
31.
Pinn VW (2003) Sex and gender factors in medical studies: implications for health and clinical practice. JAMA 289(4):397–400PubMedCrossRef
32.
Cotterill SJ, Parker L, Malcolm AJ, Reid M, More L, Craft AW (2000) Incidence and survival for cancer in children and young adults in the North of England, 1968–1995: a report from the Northern Region Young Persons’ Malignant Disease Registry. Br J Cancer 83(3):397–403PubMedCrossRef
33.
Parker L, Cole M, Craft AW, Hey EN (1998) Neonatal vitamin K administration and childhood cancer in the north of England: retrospective case–control study. BMJ316 7126:189–193
34.
Wilcox M, Gardosi J, Mongelli M, Ray C, Johnson I (1993) Birth weight from pregnancies dated by ultrasonography in a multicultural British population. BMJ307 6904:588–591
35.
Royston P, Ambler G, Sauerbrei W (1999) The use of fractional polynomials to model continuous risk variables in epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol 28(5):964–974PubMedCrossRef
36.
Kaye SA, Robison LL, Smithson WA, Gunderson P, King FL, Neglia JP (1991) Maternal reproductive history and birth characteristics in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer 68(6):1351–1355PubMedCrossRef
37.
38.
Gibson RW, Bross IDJ, Graham S, et al. (1968) Leukemia in children exposed to multiple risk factors. New Engl J Med 279(17):906–909CrossRefPubMed
39.
Yeazel MW, Buckley JD, Woods WG, Ruccione K, Robison LL (1995) History of maternal fetal loss and increased risk of childhood acute leukemia at an early age. A report from the Childrens Cancer Group. Cancer 75(7):1718–1727PubMedCrossRef
40.
McMillen MM (1979) Differential mortality by sex in fetal and neonatal deaths. Science 204(4388):89–91PubMedCrossRef
41.
Dorak MT, Burnett AK (1992) Major histocompatibility complex, t-complex, and leukemia. Cancer Causes Control 3(3):273–282PubMedCrossRef
42.
Melve KK, Skjaerven R (2003) Birthweight and perinatal mortality: paradoxes, social class, and sibling dependencies. Int J Epidemiol 32(4):625–632PubMedCrossRef
43.
Petridou E, Skalkidou A, Dessypris N, et al. (2000) Endogenous risk factors for childhood leukemia in relation to the IGF system (Greece). The Childhood Haematologists–Oncologists Group. Cancer Causes Control 11(8):765–771PubMedCrossRef
44.
Preston-Martin S, Pike MC, Ross RK, Jones PA, Henderson BE (1990) Increased cell division as a cause of human cancer. Cancer Res 50(23):7415–7421PubMed
45.
Srivastava S, Mehrotra PK, Srivastava SP, Siddiqui MK (2002) Some essential elements in maternal and cord blood in relation to birth weight and gestational age of the baby. Biol Trace Elem Res 86(2):97–105PubMedCrossRef
46.
Cogswell ME, Parvanta I, Ickes L, Yip R, Brittenham GM (2003) Iron supplementation during pregnancy, anemia, and birth weight: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 78(4):773–781PubMed
47.
Le NT, Richardson DR (2002) The role of iron in cell cycle progression and the proliferation of neoplastic cells. Biochim Biophys Acta 1603(1):31–46PubMed
48.
Dorak MT, Burnett AK, Worwood M (2005) HFE gene mutations in susceptibility to childhood leukemia: HuGE review. Genet Med 7(3):159–168PubMedCrossRef
49.
Lao TT, Chan PL, Tam KF (2001) Gestational diabetes mellitus in the last trimester—a feature of maternal iron excess? Diabet Med 18(3):218–223PubMedCrossRef
50.
Cauza E, Hanusch-Enserer U, Bischof M, et al. (2005) Increased C282Y heterozygosity in gestational diabetes. Fetal Diagn Ther 20(5):349–354PubMedCrossRef
51.
Feltbower RG, McKinney PA, Greaves MF, Parslow RC, Bodansky HJ (2004) International parallels in leukaemia and diabetes epidemiology. Arch Dis Child 89(1):54–56PubMed
Metadata
Title
Examination of gender effect in birth weight and miscarriage associations with childhood cancer (United Kingdom)
Authors
M. Tevfik Dorak
Mark S. Pearce
Donna M. Hammal
Richard J. Q. McNally
Louise Parker
Publication date
01-03-2007
Publisher
Kluwer Academic Publishers
Published in
Cancer Causes & Control / Issue 2/2007
Print ISSN: 0957-5243
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7225
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0093-8

Other articles of this Issue 2/2007

Cancer Causes & Control 2/2007 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Quality of race, Hispanic ethnicity, and immigrant status in population-based cancer registry data: implications for health disparity studies

Original Paper

How valid is using cancer registries’ data to identify acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma?

Original Research

Association of MTHFR C677T and SHMT1 C1420T with susceptibility to ESCC and GCA in a high incident region of Northern China

Original Paper

Body mass index and physical activity as risk factors for pancreatic cancer: the Multiethnic Cohort Study

Original Paper

Consumption of different types of meat and the risk of renal cancer: meta-analysis of case–control studies

Original Paper

Dietary intake of folate and co-factors in folate metabolism, MTHFR polymorphisms, and reduced rectal cancer
Webinar | 19-02-2024 | 17:30 (CET)

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on antibody–drug conjugates in cancer

Watch now

Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are novel agents that have shown promise across multiple tumor types. Explore the current landscape of ADCs in breast and lung cancer with our experts, and gain insights into the mechanism of action, key clinical trials data, existing challenges, and future directions.

Dr. Véronique Diéras
Prof. Fabrice Barlesi
Developed by: Springer Medicine
Image Credits