Seasonal Variation in Month of Birth and Diagnosis of Early Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Sørensen, Henrik Toft

doi:10.1001/jama.285.2.163

Cited by 31 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…9,10 This ovopathy concept is backed by animal experiments on preovulatory and postovulatory overripeness ovopathy and in line with the disproportional excess rates of fatal neural tube defects 11 and type 1 diabetes mellitus, 12 which increase further away from the equator and diverge on both hemispheres. This proposed causal relation of seasonally bound nonoptimally matured oocytes to cancer, therefore, not only agrees with the geographical latitude effect under discussion but also with the disproportional month-of-birth deviations apparent in childhood leukaemia, [13][14][15] premenopausal breast cancer, [16][17][18] lung cancer, 19 and brain tumours in children 20,21 and adults. 22 These deviations in general correspond with the major total birth peak or major ovulatory season.…”

supporting

confidence: 85%

Do sunlight and vitamin D reduce the likelihood of colon cancer? Time for a paradigm shift?

Jongbloet

2006

International Journal of Epidemiology

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supporting

confidence: 85%

Do sunlight and vitamin D reduce the likelihood of colon cancer? Time for a paradigm shift?

Jongbloet

2006

International Journal of Epidemiology

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“…Some studies have reported peak onset of diagnosis of ALL in the summer. 19,[22][23][24] Others have reported a winter excess 18,21,[25][26][27] or no seasonal variations in childhood ALL. 20,28 Since viruses cause most malignancies and since viruses usually cause disease in epidemic forms and in specific seasons, providing evidence that malignancies are more common in particular seasons is another step on the way to reaching complete proof.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variations in the onset of childhood leukemia/lymphoma: April 1996 to March 2000, Shiraz, Iran

Karimi

Yarmohammadi

2003

Hematological Oncology

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Infection has long been suspected as a possible factor in the aetiology of leukemia and lymphoma, one of the most common malignancies in children. Since most viral infections have seasonal variations of onset, if seasonal trends in 1 month of diagnosis of leukemia and lymphoma could be proved, this would be supportive evidence for an infectious aetiology. A total of 367 cases in the Hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, from April 1996 through March 2000, who were diagnosed as having acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) chronic myeloblastic lymphoma (CML), Hodgkin's disease (HD) or non-Burkitt's type non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NBNHL) were analysed. The month of appearance of the first symptom and the date of diagnosis were recorded. ALL demonstrated statistically significant monthly variation in the date of appearance of the first symptom (p < 0.05; peak in October) and the date of diagnosis (p < 0.05; peak in November). Seasonal variation was demonstrated in the date of the first appearance of symptoms in BL (p < 0.042), and in the date of diagnosis in AML (p < 0.049). There was no statistically significant seasonal variation in the month of diagnosis for other groups. Analysis based on the date of the first symptoms and the date of diagnosis for ALL patients, using summer-winter ratios, also showed a significant winter excess (p < 0.001). Our data provide modest support for an autumn-winter peak in the diagnosis of childhood ALL, underlying mechanisms that account for these patterns are likely to be complex and need more definitive studies.

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“…There was evidence of seasonality in date of birth in studies from Denmark [15] and the UK, although there was variability in the time of peak incidence [16,17]. The Danish study of children aged under 4 years diagnosed with ALL found marked seasonality in birth with a peak in April.…”

Section: Strengths and Weaknessesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Variation of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia is Different Between Girls and Boys

Nyári

Kajtár

Bartyik

et al. 2008

Pathol. Oncol. Res.

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The aim of this study was to investigate seasonal trends in the incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) around the times of birth and diagnosis in children aged 0-4 years and also to examine gender specific effects. Children born in South Hungary during 1981-1997 were analysed. Registrations of first malignancies for children, diagnosed under age 5 years before the end of 2002 were obtained from the Hungarian Paediatric Oncology Group providing a representative sample of Hungarian children over a 17 year period of time. Data were available on the corresponding numbers of births for each month of the study period were obtained. Statistical analyses were performed using logistic regression with harmonic components. The study analysed 121 cases of children, aged under 5 years, who were diagnosed with ALL. We found no seasonal effect related to date of diagnosis. However, there was seasonal variability for ALL related to date of birth. Maximal rates were seen in children born in February and August in the simple harmonic regression model for all children diagnosed with ALL. Analysis by gender found evidence of seasonality related to month of birth with peaks in February and August in boys, but different seasonal effects were seen for girls (peak in November, nadir in May). Our study provides some evidence that male specific immune responses to infections around the time of birth could explain the male predominance in the incidence of ALL.

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Seasonal Variation in Month of Birth and Diagnosis of Early Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Cited by 31 publications

References 2 publications

Do sunlight and vitamin D reduce the likelihood of colon cancer? Time for a paradigm shift?

Do sunlight and vitamin D reduce the likelihood of colon cancer? Time for a paradigm shift?

Seasonal variations in the onset of childhood leukemia/lymphoma: April 1996 to March 2000, Shiraz, Iran

Seasonal Variation of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia is Different Between Girls and Boys

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