Journal article

The association between birth order and childhood leukemia may be modified by paternal age and birth weight. Pooled results from the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C)

O Paltiel, S Lemeshow, GS Phillips, G Tikellis, MS Linet, AL Ponsonby, P Magnus, SE Håberg, SF Olsen, C Granström, M Klebanoff, J Golding, Z Herceg, A Ghantous, JE Hirst, A Borkhardt, MH Ward, S Holst Søegaard, T Dwyer

International Journal of Cancer | WILEY | Published : 2019

Abstract

The “delayed infection hypothesis” states that a paucity of infections in early childhood may lead to higher risks of childhood leukemia (CL), especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Using prospectively collected data from six population-based birth cohorts we studied the association between birth order (a proxy for pathogen exposure) and CL. We explored whether other birth or parental characteristics modify this association. With 2.2 × 10 6 person-years of follow-up, 185 CL and 136 ALL cases were ascertained. In Cox proportional hazards models, increasing birth order (continuous) was inversely associated with CL and ALL; hazard ratios (HR) = 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.77–..

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Grants

Awarded by National Institutes of Health


Funding Acknowledgements

Grant sponsor: NIH (NCI, NICHD)-USA; National Children's Study-USA; Grant sponsor: Children's Cancer Centre Foundation-Australia; Grant sponsor: Bluey Day Foundation-Australia; Grant sponsor: Baxter Family Foundation-Australia; Grant sponsor: The Rotary Club of North Brighton-Australia; Grant sponsor: Tour de Cure-Australia; Grant sponsor: Private philanthropic donations - Australia; Grant sponsor: Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australia; Grant number: M1300049; Grant sponsor: Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, Trigon Foundation, Denmark, UK; Grant number: 262700; Grant sponsor: Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust; Grant number: 092731; Grant sponsor: the University of Bristol currently provide core support for ALSPAC