Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25207954›Full record

ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2014

Maternal supplementation with folic acid and other vitamins and risk of leukemia in offspring: a Childhood Leukemia International Consortium study.

Catherine Metayer, Elizabeth Milne, John D Dockerty, Jacqueline Clavel, Maria S Pombo-de-Oliveira, Catharina Wesseling, Logan G Spector, Joachim Schüz, Eleni Petridou, Sameera Ezzat and 11 more

Open access · greenAbstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
52citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
7.1field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

52 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Role of Maternal Diet in the Risk of Childhood Acute Leukemia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Modulation of theInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. The Interrelationship between Preconception Folate Nutritional Intake and Child Genetic Liability in the Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
    Article
  11. Review
  12. Folate Metabolism and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Genetic Pathway Analysis from the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Folic acid: friend or foe in cancer therapy.The Journal of international medical research · 2024
    Review
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  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

21 authors at 17 institutions in 11 countries.

Catherine MetayerFrom the aUniversity of California, School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA; bTelethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, West Perth, Western Australia; cDean's Department and Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; dInserm, CESP Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Environmental Epidemiology of Cancer Team, Université Paris-Sud, Villejuif, France; ePediatric Hematology-Oncology Program, Research Program, Instituto Nacional de Cancer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; fInstituto Regional de Estudios en Sustancias Tóxicas (IRET), Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica; gDivision of Epidemiology Clinical Research, Department of Pediatrics and Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; hInternational Agency for Research on Cancer, Section of Environment and Radiation, Lyon, France; iDepartment of Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; jResearch Department, Children's Cancer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt; kSydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; lNational School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; mGerman Childhood Cancer Registry, Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany; nLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and oDepartment of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Province of Québec, Canada.
Elizabeth Milne
John D Dockerty
Jacqueline Clavel
Maria S Pombo-de-Oliveira
Catharina Wesseling
Logan G Spector
Joachim Schüz
Eleni Petridou
Sameera Ezzat
Bruce K Armstrong
Jérémie Rudant
Sergio Koifman
Peter Kaatsch
Maria Moschovi
Wafaa M Rashed
Steve Selvin
Kathryn McCauley
Rayjean J Hung
Alice Y Kang
Claire Infante-Rivard
University of California, Berkeley · USChildren Cancer Hospital · EGCentre de recherche en Epidémiologie et Santé des Populations · FRCentre International de Recherche sur le Cancer · FRFundação Oswaldo Cruz · BRInserm · FRInstituto Nacional do Câncer · BRLunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute · CAMcGill University · CANational and Kapodistrian University of Athens · GRThe Kids Research Institute Australia · AUUniversidad Nacional · CRUniversity Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz · DEUniversity of Minnesota Medical Center · USUniversity of Otago · NZUniversity of Sydney · AUUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

Environmental and Molecular Epidemiology of Childhood LeukemiaR01ES009137 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI METAYER, CATHERINE · 1999 to 2013
$21.1M
Project 3: Prenatal Exposure, DNA Methylation & Childhood LeukemiaP01ES018172 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI METAYER, CATHERINE · 2009 to 2013
$3.7M
Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC)R03CA132172 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI BUFFLER, PATRICIA A · 2007 to 2008
$125k
NCI NIH HHS R03 CA132172NCI NIH HHS R03CA132172NIEHS NIH HHS P01 ES018172NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES009137
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMaternal prenatal supplementation with folic acid and other vitamins has been inconsistently associated with a reduced risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Little is known regarding the association with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rarer subtype.

methodsWe obtained original data on prenatal use of folic acid and vitamins from 12 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (enrollment period: 1980-2012), including 6,963 cases of ALL, 585 cases of AML, and 11,635 controls. Logistic regression was used to estimate pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for child's age, sex, ethnicity, parental education, and study center.

resultsMaternal supplements taken any time before conception or during pregnancy were associated with a reduced risk of childhood ALL; odds ratios were 0.85 (95% CI = 0.78-0.92) for vitamin use and 0.80 (0.71-0.89) for folic acid use. The reduced risk was more pronounced in children whose parents' education was below the highest category. The analyses for AML led to somewhat unstable estimates; ORs were 0.92 (0.75-1.14) and 0.68 (0.48-0.96) for prenatal vitamins and folic acid, respectively. There was no strong evidence that risks of either types of leukemia varied by period of supplementation (preconception, pregnancy, or trimester).

conclusionsOur results, based on the largest number of childhood leukemia cases to date, suggest that maternal prenatal use of vitamins and folic acid reduces the risk of both ALL and AML and that the observed association with ALL varied by parental education, a surrogate for lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics.

Indexed as

AdolescentCase-Control StudiesChildChild, PreschoolDietary SupplementsFemaleFolic AcidHumansInfantInfant, NewbornLeukemia, Myeloid, AcuteMaleMaternal-Fetal ExchangePrecursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-LymphomaPregnancyRiskFolic AcidVitamins

Identifiers

PMID25207954
PMCPMC5903563
OpenAlexW2079404925

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.