Maternal anemia and the risk of childhood cancer: A population‐based cohort study in Taiwan

Abstract

Background Childhood cancer may be related to maternal health in pregnancy. Maternal anemia is a common condition in pregnancy, especially in low‐income countries, but the association between maternal anemia and childhood cancer has not been widely studied. Objective To examine the potential relation between maternal anemia during pregnancy and childhood cancers in a population‐based cohort study in Taiwan. Methods We examined the relationship between maternal anemia and childhood cancer in Taiwan (N = 2160 cancer cases, 2,076,877 noncases). Cases were taken from the National Cancer Registry, and noncases were selected from birth records. Using national health registries, we obtained maternal anemia diagnoses. We estimated the risks for childhood cancers using Cox proportional hazard analysis. Results There was an increased risk of cancers in children born to mothers with nutritional anemia (hazard ratio (HR): 1.32, 95% CI 0.99, 1.76). Iron deficiency anemia (HR: 1.30, 95% CI 0.97–1.75) carried an increased risk, while non‐nutritional anemias were not associated with childhood cancer risk. Conclusion Our results provide additional support for screening for anemia during pregnancy. Adequate nutrition and vitamin supplementation may help to prevent some childhood cancer.

Maternal medically diagnosed infection and antibiotic prescription during pregnancy and risk of childhood cancer: A population‐based cohort study in Taiwan, 2004 to 2015

“…Based on modified disjunctive cause criteria, 24 we adjusted all models for birth year, sex, maternal age in years, family income (divided into quartiles), urbanization level (categorized as high, middle or low) and parity (categorized as 1, 2 or 3 or more). Some of these factors including child's age (as birth year) and sex, [25][26][27] maternal age 21,[28][29][30] and parity 26,27 have been suggested as potential risk factors for certain types of childhood cancer. Family income and urbanization level were considered proxies for confounding by socioeconomic status.…”