Abstract
A modified Mantel-Haenszel analysis of data from the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers has shown that cases associated with foetal irradiation (X-rayed cases) accounted for a higher proportion of deaths between 5 and 10 years than of earlier or later deaths. This finding is compatible with somewhat later origins for the cancers actually caused by the radiation exposures (radiogenic cases) than for other (idiopathic) cases which proved fatal before 10 years of age. Therefore the usual time for incurring congenital anomalies (or the first trimester of foetal life) could be the commonest time for initiating childhood cancers. The theoretical implications of this and other findings of the Oxford Survey are discussed within the framework of a theory which assumes that all mutant cells have cancer potentialities and that defects in the immune surveillance mechanism favour multiplication of these cells (or endogenous sources of self-replicating foreign proteins) as well as live pathogens (or exogenous sources of self-replicating foreign proteins).
Highlights
Summary.-A modified Mantel-Haenszel analysis of data from the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers has shown that cases associated with foetal irradiation (X-rayed cases) accounted for a higher proportion of deaths between 5 and 10 years than of earlier or later deaths
FOLLOWING the discovery of an association between childhood cancers and foetal irradiation (Stewart, WA'ebb and Hewitt, 1958) there have been several attempts to discover whether the X-rayed and non-X-rayed children in the Oxford survey had identical age distributions (Wise, 1961; Stewart and Hewitt, 1965; Stewart and Kneale, 1970)
These studies were based on the assumption that any cancers caused by foetal irradiation would form a relatively compact group temporally, since they would be (i) wholly composed of cancers with in utero origins and (ii) mainly composed of cancers initiated during the third trimester of foetal life
Summary
FOLLOWING the discovery of an association between childhood cancers and foetal irradiation (Stewart, WA'ebb and Hewitt, 1958) there have been several attempts to discover whether the X-rayed and non-X-rayed children in the Oxford survey had identical age distributions (Wise, 1961; Stewart and Hewitt, 1965; Stewart and Kneale, 1970). These studies were based on the assumption that any cancers caused by foetal irradiation (radiogenic casesI) would form a relatively compact group temporally, since they would be (i) wholly composed of cancers with in utero origins and (ii) mainly composed of cancers initiated during the third trimester of foetal life (the usual time for X-raying pregnant women). Sarily accompanied by a skew distribution Five years later, the impressioli of of later ages (Stewart and Kneale, 1968). foetal origins for most if not all cancers
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