ArticleBritish journal of cancer2004
Childhood and maternal infections and risk of acute leukaemia in children with Down syndrome: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between childhood infections and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.British journal of cancer · 2018Pooled it
- Maternal illnesses during pregnancy and the risk of childhood cancer: A medical-record based analysis (UKCCS).International journal of cancer · 2025Article
- Leukemia Risk in a Cohort of 3.9 Million Children with and without Down Syndrome.The Journal of pediatrics · 2021Article
- Virome characterisation from Guthrie cards in children who later developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.British journal of cancer · 2016Article
- Epidemiology of childhood acute myeloid leukemia.Pediatric blood & cancer · 2013Review
- Down syndrome and malignancies: a unique clinical relationship: a paper from the 2008 william beaumont hospital symposium on molecular pathology.The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD · 2009Review
- Breastfeeding and early infection in the aetiology of childhood leukaemia in Down syndrome.British journal of cancer · 2009Article
- Maternal health conditions during pregnancy and acute leukemia in children with Down syndrome: A Children's Oncology Group study.Pediatric blood & cancer · 2009Article
- Malignancy in children with trisomy 21.The oncologist · 2009Review
- Vitamin supplement use among children with Down's syndrome and risk of leukaemia: a Children's Oncology Group (COG) study.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2008Article
- Infectious etiologies of childhood leukemia: plausibility and challenges to proof.Environmental health perspectives · 2007Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Children with Down syndrome (DS) are highly susceptible to acute leukaemia. Given the potential role of infections in the aetiology of leukaemia in children without DS, we investigated whether there was an association between early-life infections and acute leukaemia in children with DS. Maternal infections during pregnancy were also examined. We enrolled 158 incident cases of acute leukaemia in children with DS (97 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and 61 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)) diagnosed at Children's Oncology Group institutions between 1997 and 2002. DS controls (N=173) were selected from the cases' primary care clinics and frequency matched on age at leukaemia diagnosis. Data were collected on demographics, child's medical history, mother's medical history, and other factors by maternal interview. Analyses were conducted using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders. A significant negative association was observed between acute leukaemia and any infection in the first 2 years of life (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.33-0.92); OR=0.53, 95% CI (0.29-0.97); and OR=0.59, 95% CI (0.28-1.25) for acute leukaemia combined, ALL, and AML respectively). The association between acute leukaemia and maternal infections during pregnancy was in the same direction but not significant. This study offers support for the hypothesis that early-life infections may play a protective role in the aetiology of acute leukaemia in children with DS.
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