High parental occupational social contact and risk of childhood hematopoietic, brain and bone cancers

• Published in: Cancer epidemiology Vol. 62; p. 101575
• Main Authors: Omidakhsh, Negar, Hansen, Johnni, Ritz, Beate, Olsen, Jorn, Heck, Julia E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2019; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Adult; Age; Astrocytoma; Birth; Bone cancer; Bone Neoplasms - etiology; Bone Neoplasms - pathology; Brain cancer; Brain Neoplasms - etiology; Brain Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer; Case-Control Studies; Central nervous system; Central nervous system tumors; Child; Children; Diagnosis; Employment; Epidemiology; Etiology; Female; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Hematologic Neoplasms - etiology; Hematologic Neoplasms - pathology; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Leukemia; Lymphatic leukemia; Lymphoma; Male; Market shares; Neuroblastoma; Occupational exposure; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Occupational exposures; Occupations; Parents; Pediatric cancer; Pediatrics; Population; Population studies; Risk; Risk Factors; Rural areas; Tumors; Young Adult; Denmark; Occupational exposures; Central nervous system tumors; Pediatric cancer; Leukemia
• ISSN: 1877-7821; 1877-783X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2019.101575

•Registry-based study examining occupational social contact as a risk factor for some childhood cancers among both fathers and mothers.•High maternal social contact was inversely associated with leukemia.•Parental social contact was associated with increased risk of astrocytoma.•Our work supports the role of infection for some cancer types at different stages of fetal and child development. The etiology of childhood cancer is largely unknown, though some research suggests an infectious origin of hematopoietic, central nervous system (CNS) and bone cancers. We examined parental occupational social contact as a proxy for exposure to infectious agents and risk of childhood cancer. This population-based case-control study utilized a linkage of four Danish data-registries, and included 3581 cases (<17 years, diagnosed 1973–2012) and 358,100 age-matched controls. We examined the risks of leukemia, lymphoma, CNS and bone cancer related to high occupational social contact from (1) conception to birth and (2) birth to diagnosis. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and bone cancer were inversely associated with high maternal social contact from conception to birth (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.67–1.10) and birth to diagnosis (OR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34–0.86). Children of fathers with high social contact from birth to diagnosis had an increased risk of bone cancers, particularly in rural areas (OR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.03–2.63). Parental social contact was associated with increased risk of astrocytoma, with strongest associations found in first-born children (maternal: OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.02–2.32; paternal: OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.05–3.17). Our results support the notion of a role of infections for some cancer types.