Pre-natal irradiation and childhood malignancy: a review of British data from the Oxford Survey

Bithell, J. F.; Stewart, Alice

doi:10.1038/bjc.1975.62

Cited by 272 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…No male excess has been reported in association with in utero diagnostic radiation exposure in two of the largest studies: the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers (Bithell and Stewart, 1975) and the North-eastern United States study (Monson and MacMahon, 1984), or in the offspring of atomic bomb survivors who were exposed while in utero (Delongchamp et al, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood cancer in the offspring born in 1921–1984 to US radiologic technologists

et al. 2008

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We examined the risk of childhood cancer (o20 years) among 105 950 offspring born in 1921 -1984 to US radiologic technologist (USRT) cohort members. Parental occupational in utero and preconception ionising radiation (IR) testis or ovary doses were estimated from work history data, badge dose data, and literature doses (the latter doses before 1960). Female and male RTs reported a total of 111 and 34 haematopoietic malignancies and 115 and 34 solid tumours, respectively, in their offspring. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression. Leukaemia (n ¼ 63) and solid tumours (n ¼ 115) in offspring were not associated with maternal in utero or preconception radiation exposure. Risks for lymphoma (n ¼ 44) in those with estimated doses of o0.2, 0.2 -1.0, and 41.0 mGy vs no exposure were non-significantly elevated with HRs of 2.3, 1.8, and 2.7. Paternal preconception exposure to estimated cumulative doses above the 95th percentile (X82 mGy, n ¼ 6 cases) was associated with a non-significant risk of childhood cancer of 1.8 (95% CI 0.7 -4.6). In conclusion, we found no convincing evidence of an increased risk of childhood cancer in the offspring of RTs in association with parental occupational radiation exposure. British Journal of Cancer (2008) Exposure to in utero diagnostic ionising radiation (IR) is generally considered to increase the risk of childhood cancer, including solid and haematological malignancies (Brenner et al, 2003; Wakeford, 2004). Although cohort studies of medical radiation workers have reported increases in the incidence and mortality of skin cancer, breast cancer, and leukaemia, especially in individuals who started working before 1950 when both radiation doses and permitted levels of exposure were higher (Yoshinaga et al, 2004), the risk of cancer in their offspring associated with parental occupational exposure is unclear (Brenner et al, 2003). Radiation could increase offspring cancer risk through germline or in utero somatic mutations (Doll and Wakeford, 1997; UNSCEAR, 2001;Prasad et al, 2004). The only study of childhood cancer incidence in the offspring of medical radiographers found no significant excess (Roman et al, 1996).The US radiologic technologist (USRT) cohort is one of the largest groups of occupationally exposed medical personnel assembled for study. As 73% USRT cohort participants are female, both preconception and in utero occupational radiation exposure effects on offspring cancer risk could be studied. In addition, much effort was devoted to reconstructing probable dose levels during periods when workers were not routinely monitored (Simon et al, 2006), allowing quantitative evaluation of parental exposures. To date, this is the largest study of childhood cancer risk in RT offspring. METHODSThe University of Minnesota Institutional Review Board and the United States National Cancer Institute approved all protocols for data use. Complete study details have been described elsewhere (Boice et al, 1992;Doody et ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood cancer in the offspring born in 1921–1984 to US radiologic technologists

et al. 2008

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“…Miller (1971) andDraper et al (1977) have shown that the number of families in which two children are affected is too great to be accounted for by chance, and from the latter paper it appears that the excess cannot obviously be explained by association with known genetic disease. The only welldocumented causes of childhood cancer are ionising radiation (particularly antenatal X-rays; see, for example, Bithell and Stewart, 1975) (Knudson, 1978). Draper et al (1992) estimated the risk of retinoblastoma in sibs of affected patients.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of childhood cancer among siblings

Draper

Sanders²,

Lennox³

et al. 1996

Br J Cancer

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Summary The National Registry of Childhood Tumours contains over 51 000 records of children born in Great Britain who developed cancer under the age of 15 years. Patterns of childhood cancer among families containing more than one child with cancer have been studied. A total of 225 'sib pair' families have been ascertained from interviews with parents of affected children, from hospital and general practitioner records and from manual and computer searches of names and addresses of patients. A number of special groups have been identified, including those with a known genetic aetiology such as retinoblastoma, twins and families with three or more affected children. A further 148 families not in any of the above groups contain two children with cancer: in 46 families the children had tumours of the same type, most commonly leukaemia. Some of the families are examples of the Li-Fraumeni syndrome; some are associated with other conditions, including Down's syndrome. There is clearly a genetic element in the aetiology of cancer in some families discussed here; shared exposure to environmental causes may account for others and some will be simply due to chance.

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“…This hypothesis was based on the findings of a case -control study which showed that almost twice as many mothers of children who died from leukaemia or malignant disease before the age of 10 had undergone X-ray examinations of the abdomen during pregnancy (pelvimetry) in comparison with mothers of controls (Stewart et al, 1956). Later analyses showed that this excess risk was inversely related to foetal Revised 10 February 2009; accepted 27 February 2009 age and increased with the number of films taken (Bithell and Stewart, 1975). …”

Section: Childhood Exposure To Irmentioning

confidence: 99%