Authors:
Dawson S, Charles AK, Bower C, de Klerk NH, Milne E.
Authors notes:
Birth Defects Res Part A Clin Mol Teratol. 2015;103(4):284-91.
Keywords:
birth defects, cancer, children, data linkage, cohort study
Abstract:
Associations between birth defects and childhood cancers have been studied previously and have identified several specific birth defect cancer associations.
No studies have examined the risk after exclusion of known associations.
Methods:
We analyzed data from high-quality populationbased registers of birth defects and cancers for Western Australian births 1982 to 2007 and estimated hazard ratios for any cancer and specific cancers associated with any birth defect and specific birth defects.
Results:
The hazard ratios for any cancer among children with any birth defect was 1.96.
The hazard ratio for any cancer among children with a birth defects not known to be related to a cancer was 1.19.
The hazard ratio for the latter association among children diagnosed with cancer before 5 years of age was 1.74.
Conclusion: This novel approach aimed to prevent inflated hazard ratios arising from reverse causation, and allow identification of associations beyond those already well documented.
Larger studies using this method are needed to explore currently undocumented associations between birth defects and cancers.