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. 2025 Feb 21;17(5):733.
doi: 10.3390/cancers17050733.

Early Infection Incidence and Risk of Acute Leukemia Development Among Mexican Children

Omar Sepúlveda-Robles  1 , Janet Flores-Lujano  2 , Juan Carlos Núñez-Enríquez  2 , Elva Jiménez-Hernández  3 , David Aldebarán Duarte-Rodríguez  2 , Jorge Alfonso Martín-Trejo  4 , Laura Eugenia Espinoza-Hernández  3 , Xochiketzalli García-Jiménez  3 , Rogelio Paredes-Aguilera  5 , Juan José Dosta-Herrera  6 , Javier Anastacio Mondragón-García  7 , Heriberto Valdés-Guzmán  8 , Laura Mejía-Pérez  9 , Gilberto Espinoza-Anrubio  10 , María Minerva Paz-Bribiesca  11 , Perla Salcedo-Lozada  12 , Rodolfo Ángel Landa-García  13 , Rosario Ramírez-Colorado  14 , Luis Hernández-Mora  15 , Marlene Santamaría-Ascencio  16 , Anselmo López-Loyola  17 , Arturo Hermilo Godoy-Esquivel  18 , Luis Ramiro García-López  19 , Alison Ireri Anguiano-Ávalos  20 , Karina Mora-Rico  21 , Alejandro Castañeda-Echevarría  22 , Roberto Rodríguez-Jiménez  23 , José Alberto Cibrian-Cruz  24 , Rocío Cárdenas-Cardos  25 , Martha Beatriz Altamirano-García  10 , Martin Sánchez-Ruiz  12 , Roberto Rivera-Luna  25 , Luis Rodolfo Rodríguez-Villalobos  19 , Francisco Hernández-Pérez  20 , Jaime Ángel Olvera-Durán  21 , Luis Rey García-Cortés  26 , José Refugio Torres-Nava  27 , Marlon De Ita  1   28 , Aurora Medina-Sanson  29 , Minerva Mata-Rocha  1 , José Gabriel Peñaloza-Gonzalez  30 , Rosa Martha Espinosa-Elizondo  31 , Luz Victoria Flores-Villegas  32 , Raquel Amador-Sanchez  33 , Darío Orozco-Ruiz  27 , Maria Luisa Pérez-Saldívar  2 , Martha Margarita Velázquez-Aviña  30 , Laura Elizabeth Merino-Pasaye  32 , Karina Anastacia Solís-Labastida  4 , Ana Itamar González-Ávila  33 , Jessica Denisse Santillán-Juárez  34 , Vilma Carolina Bekker-Méndez  35 , Silvia Jiménez-Morales  36 , Angélica Rangel-López  37 , José Arellano-Galindo  38 , Jorge Meléndez-Zajgla  39 , Haydeé Rosas-Vargas  1 , Juan Manuel Mejía-Aranguré  39   40
Affiliations

Early Infection Incidence and Risk of Acute Leukemia Development Among Mexican Children

Omar Sepúlveda-Robles et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: The few epidemiologic studies of infection exposure in early life and acute leukemia (AL) risk in Latino children have yielded inconsistent results, suggesting a possible effect of ethnicity. Here, we examined the correlation between infection exposure and acute leukemia risk in children from Mexico City-One of the biggest Latino cities worldwide.

Methods: This study included 1455 Mexican children diagnosed with de novo AL (2002-2016), and 1455 control individuals frequency-matched by age and health institution. The AL population included acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Pre-B ALL, and acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML). Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate direct and indirect proxies of infection in children or their mothers.

Results: Upper respiratory tract infections during the child's first year of life were a risk factor for AL (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.48-5.15), including ALL (OR, 3.14; 95% CI, 1.67-5.89) and Pre-B (OR, 3.11; 95% CI, 1.63-5.96). Mother's infections before and during pregnancy were protective factors against AL (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.47-0.64; and OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.52-0.72, respectively). These associations included ALL and Pre-B. In contrast, only mothers' infections before pregnancy and respiratory tract infections were protective factors against AML (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.33-0.62; and OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.37-0.68, respectively).

Conclusions: Infections during the first year of life were associated with AL development in children of Mexico City. Additionally, mothers' exposure to respiratory tract infections before and during pregnancy reduced the AL risk in this Latino population.

Keywords: Latino population; acute leukemia; infection incidence; maternal infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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