Abstract
In Mexico, due to the high rates of diabetes, overweight, and obesity, there has also been noted an increased newborn weight, which may be contributing to the elevated incidence rate of childhood acute leukemia (AL). We conducted a case–control study in public hospitals of Mexico City aimed to know whether a greater weight at birth is associated with a higher risk of developing leukemia. We included incident cases with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosed between 2010 and 2015. Controls were frequency‐matched to the cases by age, sex, and health institution. Logistic regression analysis was performed adjusting risks by child's sex, overcrowding index, birth order, and mother's age at the time of pregnancy. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. A total of 1455 cases and 1455 controls were included. An evident association between ALL and child's birthweight ≥2500 g was found (aOR 2.06; 95% CI: 1.59, 2.66) and also, in those with birthweight ≥3500 g (aOR 1.19; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.41). In AML patients with birthweight ≥2500 g and ≥3500 g, an aOR of 1.77 (95% CI: 1.07, 2.94) and 1.42 (95% CI: 1.03–1.95) was observed, respectively. No association was noticed with either type of AL and a birthweight ≥4000 g. To sum up, we found a moderate association between not having a low birthweight and an increased risk of acute leukemias. Birthweight ≥3500 g was also a risk factor for both types of leukemia. This suggests that a greater birthweight may increase the risk of acute leukemias in Mexican children.
Highlights
Acute leukemia (AL) is consistently the most common cancer in children, almost one-third of all types before the age of 15 years [1, 2]
Using as reference a low birthweight (
In multivariate analysis, using as reference a birthweight
Summary
Acute leukemia (AL) is consistently the most common cancer in children, almost one-third of all types before the age of 15 years [1, 2]. Great advances have been achieved in the last 20 years in the knowledge on the biology of leukemia [7,8,9], and there has been an increase in long-term survival. Through improvements in treatment regimens and supportive care [10,11,12]. There is little known of its etiology, with the existence of different morphological subtypes, great heterogeneity in pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, variability in response to treatment and prognosis, all of these suggesting different etiologies [13,14,15]. Epidemiological investigations have proposed many potential risk factors [16,17,18,19,20] few have been confirmed, mainly for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [21,22,23]
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