Childhood hematopoietic malignancies and parental use of tobacco and alcohol: the ESCALE study (SFCE)

• Published in: Cancer causes & control 2008-12, Vol.19 (10), p.1277-1290
• Main Authors: Rudant, Jérémie, Menegaux, Florence, Leverger, Guy, Baruchel, André, Lambilliotte, Anne, Bertrand, Yves, Patte, Catherine, Pacquement, Hélène, Vérité, Cécile, Robert, Alain, Michel, Gérard, Margueritte, Geneviève, Gandemer, Virginie, Hémon, Denis, Clavel, Jacqueline
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol; Alcohol drinking; Alcohol Drinking - adverse effects; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Burkitt Lymphoma - epidemiology; Burkitt Lymphoma - pathology; Cancer; Cancer Research; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Cigarette smoking; Epidemiology; Etiology; Female; France - epidemiology; Hematologic Neoplasms - classification; Hematologic Neoplasms - epidemiology; Hematologic Neoplasms - pathology; Hematology; Hodgkin Disease - epidemiology; Hodgkin Disease - pathology; Humans; Incidence; Leukemia; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - epidemiology; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - pathology; Life Sciences; Logistic Models; Lymphoma; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - epidemiology; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - pathology; Male; Maternal Exposure - adverse effects; Mental disorders; Mothers; Myeloid leukemia; Non Hodgkin lymphoma; Odds Ratio; Oncology; Original Paper; Palliative care; Paternal Exposure - adverse effects; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - epidemiology; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - pathology; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Public Health; Registries - statistics & numerical data; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Smoking; Smoking - adverse effects; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tobacco smoking
• ISSN: 0957-5243; 1573-7225
• DOI: 10.1007/s10552-008-9199-5

Objectives Investigating the role of parental smoking and maternal alcohol consumption in the etiology of childhood hematopoietic malignancies. Methods The national registry-based case-control study ESCALE was carried out in France over the period 2003-2004. Population controls were frequency matched with the cases on age and gender. Maternal smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy and paternal smoking since before conception were reported by the mothers in a structured telephone questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated using unconditional regression models closely adjusted for potential confounders. Results A total of 765 cases of acute leukemia (AL), 130 of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), 165 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and 1681 controls were included. Paternal smoking was significantly associated with childhood ALL (OR = 1.4 [1.1-1.7]), AML (OR = 1.5 [1.0-2.3]), Burkitt (OR = 2.0 [1.2-3.2]), and anaplastic large cell (OR = 3.2 [1.2-9.1]) NHL. For the four diseases, the ORs significantly increased with the number of cigarettes smoked. No association with HL or with other types of NHL was observed. The associations with maternal alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking during pregnancy were less consistent. Conclusion The results support the hypothesis that only paternal smoking, and not maternal alcohol consumption or cigarette smoking, plays a role in childhood hematopoietic malignancies.