Authors:
Milne E, Greenop KR, Metayer C, Schüz J, Petridou E, Pombo-de-Oliveira MS, et al.
Authors notes:
International Journal of Cancer. 2013:online
Keywords:
Birth weight, Childhood, Fetal growth, Leukemia, Meta-analysis, Pooled analysis
Abstract:
Positive associations have been reported between the measures of accelerated fetal growth and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
We investigated this association by pooling individual-level data from 12 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.
The summary ORs from the meta-analyses were 1.24 for children who were large for gestational age relative to appropriate for gestational age, and 1.16 for a one-standard deviation increase in POBW.
The pooled analyses produced similar results.
The summary and pooled ORs for small-for-gestational-age children were 0.83 and 0.86, respectively.
Results were consistent across subgroups defined by sex, ethnicity and immunophenotype, and when the analysis was restricted to children who did not have high birth weight.
The evidence that accelerated fetal growth is associated with a modest increased risk of childhood ALL is strong and consistent with known biological mechanisms involving insulin-like growth factors.