Maternal diabetes and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the offspring

Abstract

Background:Maternal diabetes may be linked to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in the offspring.Methods:We assessed the association between maternal pregestational or gestational diabetes and offspring risk of childhood ALL in a register-based study, including all singletons born in Denmark during 1996–2015 (n=1 187 482).Results:Adjusted hazard ratios of childhood ALL were 2.91 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30–6.51) for maternal pregestational diabetes and 1.75 (95% CI: 1.02–2.98) for maternal gestational diabetes. Paternal diabetes did not alter offspring ALL risk, and we found no association between offspring ALL and later maternal risk of diabetes.Conclusions:Regardless that absolute ALL risk among offspring of women with diabetes remains low, our findings suggest that characteristics of the diabetic intrauterine environment promote ALL development. This offers a setting for future research into the biological mechanisms underlying childhood ALL.