Childhood and maternal infections and risk of acute leukaemia in children with Down syndrome: A report from the Children's Oncology Group

K. N. Canfield, L. G. Spector, L. L. Robison, D. Lazovich, M. Roesler, A. F. Olshan, F. O. Smith, N. A. Heerema, D. R. Barnard, C. K. Blair, J. A. Ross

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31 Scopus citations

Abstract

Children with Down syndrome (DS) are highly susceptible to acute leukaemia. Given the potential role of infections in the aetiology of leukaemia in children without DS, we investigated whether there was an association between early-life infections and acute leukaemia in children with DS. Maternal infections during pregnancy were also examined. We enrolled 158 incident cases of acute leukaemia in children with DS (97 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and 61 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)) diagnosed at Children's Oncology Group institutions between 1997 and 2002. DS controls (N = 173) were selected from the cases' primary care clinics and frequency matched on age at leukaemia diagnosis. Data were collected on demographics, child's medical history, mother's medical history, and other factors by maternal interview. Analyses were conducted using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders, A significant negative association was observed between acute leukaemia and any infection in the first 2 years of life (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.33-0.92); OR = 0.53, 95% CI (0.29-0.97); and OR = 0.59, 95% CI (0.28-1.25) for acute leukaemia combined, ALL, and AML respectively). The association between acute leukaemia and maternal infections during pregnancy was in the same direction but not significant. This study offers support for the hypothesis that early-life infections may play a protective role in the aetiology of acute leukaemia in children with DS.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1866-1872
Number of pages7
JournalBritish Journal of Cancer
Volume91
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 29 2004

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant R01-CA75169 and the Children’s Cancer Research Fund. Dr Olshan was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30ES10126).

Keywords

  • Down syndrome
  • Infections
  • Leukaemia

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