High birth weight and risk of specific childhood cancers: A report from the Children’s Cancer Group

• Published in: The Journal of pediatrics Vol. 131; no. 5; pp. 671 - 677
• Main Authors: Yeazel, Mark W., Ross, Julie A., Buckley, Jonathan D., Woods, William G., Ruccione, Kathy, Robison, Leslie L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.11.1997; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Birth Weight; Case-Control Studies; Child, Preschool; Epidemiology; Genes, Wilms Tumor; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Kidney Neoplasms - genetics; Leukemia - epidemiology; Medical sciences; Tumors; Wilms Tumor - epidemiology; Human; Risk factor; Birth weight; Malignant tumor; Risk analysis; Child; Epidemiology; Statistical study; Age
• ISSN: 0022-3476; 1097-6833
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-3476(97)70091-X

Objectives: High birth weight has been associated with a number of childhood cancers. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that elevated birth weight is associated with an increased risk of diagnosis-specific and age-specific groups of childhood cancers. Methods: A case-control study, using a large Children’s Cancer Group database, examined birth weight as a risk factor for childhood cancer. Birth weight information for the index child was available for 3711 cases and 816 control subjects. Results: There was a statistically significant increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Wilms’ tumor, and neuroblastoma with increasing birth weight ( p, trend = 0.006, 0.003, and 0.001, respectively). A statistically significant decreased risk of cancer was observed for soft tissue sarcoma ( p, trend = 0.04). When data were stratified on the basis of age at diagnosis, many of these associations were apparent for children whose disease was diagnosed before the age of 2 years. Moreover, for acute myeloid leukemia, age at diagnosis was an important effect modifier. For children with acute myeloid leukemia whose disease was diagnosed before 2 years of age, there was a statistically significant increased risk with high birth weight (odds ratio = 2.5, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 5.5); there was no increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia with high birth weight noted for children whose disease was diagnosed after 2 years of age (odds ratio 1.3, 95% confidence interval 0.8 to 2.2). Conclusions: Biologic studies are needed to address why high birth weight may increase risk (particularly at younger ages) of development of certain cancers. (J Pediatr 1997;131:671-7)