Abstract 5059: Early life risk factors and childhood cancer risk

Abstract

Abstract Prenatal exposures, including maternal, delivery, and newborn characteristics, may affect childhood cancer risk. Our objective was to examine whether such birth certificate-derived factors are associated with increased risk of subsequent cancer development, including leukemia and central nervous system (CNS) tumors, in children ages zero to 13. Pennsylvania state birth and cancer registry files obtained from the PA Department of Health were linked to create a cohort of children born from 2003 to 2015 who developed cancer from 2003 to 2016. After exclusions, 1,834,796 infants were included with a total of 13,785,309 person-years of observation. Among these, there were 2,355 children diagnosed with any cancer, 748 with leukemia, and 545 with CNS tumors. Older maternal age increased the hazard of developing any childhood cancer, leukemia, and CNS tumors. Children born to severely obese mothers (body mass index ≥40 kg/m2) were at over 50% higher hazard of leukemia (P=0.01) after adjustment for age and other significant risk factors; however, maternal obesity did not significantly increase the risk of childhood CNS tumors. Among the infant characteristics, having a fetal growth ratio 30% higher than expected was significantly associated with increased hazard of any childhood cancer, leukemia, or CNS tumors (hazard ratios 2.19, 1.79, and 1.77, respectively). Other fetal and newborn factors associated with higher risk of total childhood cancer included fetal intolerance of labor, lower gestational age, and having a low Apgar score at birth. This analysis demonstrated significant and independent impacts of maternal obesity and fetal growth rate on childhood cancer development, particularly leukemia, after accounting for multiple risk factors. If confirmed, weight control during pregnancy would be an effective means of childhood cancer prevention. Citation Format: Shaina L. Stacy, Jeanine M. Buchanich, Zhen-qiang Ma, Christina Mair, Linda Robertson, Ravi K. Sharma, Evelyn O. Talbott, Jian-Min Yuan. Early life risk factors and childhood cancer risk [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5059.