ArticleChild's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery2010
Case control study of periconceptional folic acid intake and nervous system tumors in children.
Article in Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal exposure to medication and risk of childhood cancer - a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Risk factors for childhood brain tumours: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies from 1976 to 2022.Cancer epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- The Protective Effect of Maternal Folic Acid Supplementation on Childhood Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Case-control Studies.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2019Pooled it
- Childhood brain tumor epidemiology: a brain tumor epidemiology consortium review.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2014Review
- Article
- [Environment and paediatric cancer in the Region of Murcia (Spain): integrating clinical and environmental history in a geographic information system].Anales de pediatria (Barcelona, Spain : 2003) · 2011Article
- The impact of folic acid supplementation on gestational and long term health: Critical temporal windows, benefits and risks.Porto biomedical journalReview
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeSince 1992, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that women of childbearing age consume 400 µg of folic acid per day to reduce the risk of neural tube defects (NTD). It has been speculated that both NTD and nervous system tumors (NST) may share common mechanisms of altered development. It examines the association between folic acid supplementation and the risk for childhood NST.
methodsIncident cases of children with cancer in Spain registered between 2004 and 2006 were identified through the MACAPE Network Group. Tumors were classified as tumors derived from the neuroectoderm (cases) and those with a mesoderm origin (controls). In a second analysis, NST were further divided into central nervous system tumors (CNST) and sympathetic nervous system tumors (SNST). We compared folic acid supplementation between the groups.
resultsOverall, folic acid supplementation any time during pregnancy was similar between cases and controls (odds ratio (OR)=1.05; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.92-1.20). However, supplementation before the 21st and 36th days of gestation resulted in significantly lower NST than in children with mesoderm tumors (OR=0.34; 95% CI 0.17-0.69 and OR=0.58; 95% CI 0.37-0.91, respectively). Preconceptional intakes of folic acid were also lower in NST although marginally nonsignificant (OR=0.44; 95% CI 0.10-1.02). When NST were divided into CNST and SNST, significant differences between tumors of mesoderm origin were only found for CNST.
conclusionsOur results support the hypothesis that folate supplementation reduces the risk of childhood NST, especially CNST. The specific mechanism and cellular role that folate may play in the development of CNST have yet to be elucidated.
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