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Malignant
neoplasms of the brain during childhood: the role of prenatal and neonatal
factors (United Kingdom)
Nicola
T. Fear1,+,
Eve Roman1,
Pat Ansell1,
Diana Bull2
1Leukaemia Research Fund, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, University of
Leeds, 30 Hyde Terrace, Leeds, LS2 9LN, UK; Ph.: +44-(0)113-233-3916; Fax:
+44-(0)113-242-6065; 2Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Cancer
Epidemiology Unit, Gibson Building, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, OX2 6HE, UK ; +nicola@LRF.leeds.ac.uk
Objectives.
To evaluate whether factors in pregnancy and around birth influence the risk of
childhood malignant neoplasms of the brain or other parts of the nervous system.
Methods.
The distribution of certain characteristics of pregnancy and birth among 83
cases of malignant neoplasms of the brain and other parts of the nervous system
(diagnosed between 0 and 14 years of age) and 166 controls (individually matched
on date of birth, sex, and hospital of birth) were compared.
Odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) and two-sided p-values
were calculated using conditional logistic regression for matched sets.
Results.
Children whose mothers had documented evidence of a clinically diagnosed viral
infection during pregnancy had an approximately 11-fold increase in risk of
developing a malignant neoplasm of the brain or other part of the nervous system
(OR = 10.6, 95% CI = 1.1–503.2).
In addition, non-statistically significant increased risks were observed among
children who had a non-cephalic presentation (OR = 3.3, 95% CI = 0.8–13.9)
or a low 1-minute apgar score (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.0–7.4).
No other aspects of the index pregnancy, delivery, or maternal characteristics
were associated with an increased risk of childhood brain
tumors.
Conclusions.
The results reported here provide limited evidence for the role of prenatal and
neonatal factors in the etiology of childhood malignant neoplasms of the brain.
The finding for maternal viral infection during pregnancy warrants further
investigation.
Keywords:
case–control study, childhood malignant
neoplasms of the brain, pregnancy, viruses
Copyright
© 2001 Kluwer Academic
Publishers. All rights reserved
Source: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1023/A:1011201524589
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