Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec 15;133(12):2968-79.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.28314. Epub 2013 Aug 1.

Fetal growth and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: findings from the childhood leukemia international consortium

Elizabeth Milne  1 , Kathryn R Greenop, Catherine Metayer, Joachim Schüz, Eleni Petridou, Maria S Pombo-de-Oliveira, Claire Infante-Rivard, Eve Roman, John D Dockerty, Logan G Spector, Sérgio Koifman, Laurent Orsi, Jérémie Rudant, Nick Dessypris, Jill Simpson, Tracy Lightfoot, Peter Kaatsch, Margarita Baka, Alessandra Faro, Bruce K Armstrong, Jacqueline Clavel, Patricia A Buffler
Affiliations

Fetal growth and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: findings from the childhood leukemia international consortium

Elizabeth Milne et al. Int J Cancer. .

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. Two measures of fetal growth-weight-for-gestational-age and proportion of optimal birth weight (POBW)-were analysed. Study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable logistic regression, and combined in fixed effects meta-analyses. Pooled analyses of all data were also undertaken using multivariable logistic regression. Subgroup analyses were undertaken when possible. Data on weight for gestational age were available for 7,348 cases and 12,489 controls from all 12 studies and POBW data were available for 1,680 cases and 3,139 controls from three studies. The summary ORs from the meta-analyses were 1.24 (95% CI: 1.13, 1.36) for children who were large for gestational age relative to appropriate for gestational age, and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.09, 1.24) 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 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.92) and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.95), 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. © 2013 UICC.

Keywords: birth weight; childhood; fetal growth; leukemia; meta-analysis; pooled analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None Identified.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Forest plot showing individual and summary odds ratios for LGA (ref = AGA), using precision based weighting (fixed effects), Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot showing individual and summary odds ratios for a one standard deviation increase in POBW, Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Caughey RW, Michels KB. Birth weight and childhood leukemia: a meta-analysis and review of the current evidence. Int J Cancer. 2009;124:2658–70. - PubMed
    1. Schüz J, Forman MR. Birthweight by gestational age and childhood cancer. Cancer Causes Control. 2007;18:655–63. - PubMed
    1. Sprehe MR, Barahmani N, Cao Y, Wang T, Forman MR, Bondy M, Okcu MF. Comparison of birth weight corrected for gestational age and birth weight alone in prediction of development of childhood leukemia and central nervous system tumors. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2010;54:242–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blair E, Liu X, de Klerk N, Lawrence D. Optimal fetal growth for the Caucasian singleton and assessment of appropriateness of fetal growth: an analysis of a total population perinatal database. BMC Pediatr. 2005;5 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Milne E, Royle JA, de Klerk NH, Blair E, Bailey H, Cole C, Attia J, Scott RJ, Armstrong BK. Fetal growth and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: results from an Australian case-control study. Am J Epidemiol. 2009;170:221–8. - PubMed

Publication types