First description of seasonality of birth and diagnosis amongst teenagers and young adults with cancer aged 15–24 years in England, 1996–2005

Marlous Van Laar,Richard G Feltbower,Susan V Picton,Sally E Kinsey

doi:10.1186/1471-2407-13-365

Marlous Van Laar, Richard G Feltbower + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-13-365

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Journal: BMC Cancer	Publication Date: Jul 31, 2013
Citations: 38	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of Leeds, Leeds General Infirmary

Abstract

BackgroundWe aimed to examine evidence for an infectious aetiology among teenagers and young adults (TYA) by analysing monthly seasonality of diagnosis and birth amongst 15–24 year olds diagnosed with cancer in England.MethodsCases of leukaemia, lymphoma and central nervous system (CNS) tumours were derived from the national TYA cancer register (1996–2005). Incidence rates (IR) and trends were assessed using Poisson regression. Seasonality of diagnosis and birth was assessed using Poisson and logistic regression respectively with cosine functions of varying periods.ResultsThere were 6251 cases diagnosed with leukaemia (n = 1299), lymphoma (n = 3070) and CNS tumours (n = 1882), the overall IR was 92 (95% CI 89–96) per 1,000,000 15–24 year olds per year.There was significant evidence of seasonality around the time of diagnosis for Hodgkin’s lymphoma (P < 0.001) with a peak in February, and for ‘other CNS tumours’ (P = 0.010) with peaks in December and June. Birth peaks for those with ‘other Gliomas’ (Gliomas other than Astrocytoma and Ependymoma) were observed in May and November (P = 0.015).ConclusionOur novel findings support an infectious aetiological hypothesis for certain subgroups of TYA cancer in England. Further work will examine correlation with specific infections occurring around the time of birth and diagnosis within certain diagnostic groups.

Highlights

We aimed to examine evidence for an infectious aetiology among teenagers and young adults (TYA) by analysing monthly seasonality of diagnosis and birth amongst 15–24 year olds diagnosed with cancer in England
We report findings from the first study to examine seasonality of cancer around birth and diagnosis focused on the TYA age group, and as such we explored seasonal patterns in the three main tumour groups and their major subtypes for which evidence of seasonality already exists within the childhood cancer literature
Our results suggest that exposures around the time of diagnosis are more important for TYA with cancer than environmental factors operating around the time of birth

Summary

Introduction

We aimed to examine evidence for an infectious aetiology among teenagers and young adults (TYA) by analysing monthly seasonality of diagnosis and birth amongst 15–24 year olds diagnosed with cancer in England. There is increasing evidence that environmental factors, such as infections, which vary seasonally and occur around the time of cancer diagnosis or around the time of birth, may affect subsequent development of cancer. Summer peaks of ALL diagnoses have been observed amongst children and adults in East Anglia, [1] as well as for children across the UK, but only for diagnosis between 1953 and 1962. There is evidence of seasonality of diagnosis in England van Laar et al BMC Cancer 2013, 13:365 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/13/365 of monocytic leukaemia with a peak in February and March, and in Sweden melanoma diagnosis peak in May/June and September/October, prostate cancer diagnosis peak in October and breast cancer diagnosis peak in November [4,5]

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