ArticleCancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology2024
Maternal Prenatal Use of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drugs and Associations with Childhood Cancer Subtypes.
Article in Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental and Occupational Risk Factors for Retinoblastoma.AJPM focus · 2026Review
- Nested ecosystems theory for conceptualizing brain tumors.Disease models & mechanisms · 2026Review
- Substance and alcohol use in pregnant women attending antenatal care at a tertiary hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2025Article
- Environmental Pollution and Risk of Childhood Cancer: A Scoping Review of Evidence from the Last Decade.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe association between childhood cancer risk and maternal prenatal substance use/abuse remains uncertain due to modest sample sizes and heterogeneous study designs.
methodsWe surveyed parents of children with cancer regarding maternal gestational use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs, using a Likert-type scale, and demographic, perinatal, and clinical variables. Multivariable log-Poisson regression assessed differences in frequency of prenatal substance use across fifteen childhood cancer subtypes, adjusting for birthweight, gestational age, and demographic factors.
resultsRespondents from 3,145 unique families completed the survey (92% biological mothers). A minority reported gestational use of tobacco products (14%), illicit drugs including marijuana or cocaine (4%), or more than a moderate amount of alcohol (2%). Prenatal illicit drug use was associated with increased prevalence of intracranial embryonal tumors [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.94; confidence interval [CI], 1.05-3.58], including medulloblastoma (PR = 1.82) and supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET; PR = 2.66), and was also associated with retinoblastoma (PR = 3.11; CI, 1.20-8.08). Moderate to heavy alcohol consumption was strongly associated with elevated prevalence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PR = 5.94; CI, 1.84-19.21). Prenatal smoking was not associated with elevated prevalence of any childhood cancer subtype.
conclusionsWe identify novel associations between illicit drug use during pregnancy and increased prevalence of nonglioma central nervous system tumors, including medulloblastoma, supratentorial PNETs, and retinoblastoma. Gestational exposure to alcohol was positively associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. IMPACT: Although alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy has declined, gestational cannabis use has risen. Investigating its impact on neurodevelopment and brain tumorigenesis is vital, with important implications for childhood cancer research and public health education.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.