Allergy and risk of childhood leukaemia: Results from the UKCCS

Ann M. Hughes; Tracy Lightfoot; Jill Simpson; Pat Ansell; Sally E. Kinsey; Tim O. B. Eden; Mel Greaves; Eve Roman; Christopher D. Mitchell; Patricia A. McKinney; United Kingdom Childhood Canc Stu

doi:10.1002/ijc.22702

Allergy and risk of childhood leukaemia: Results from the UKCCS

Ann M. Hughes, Tracy Lightfoot, Jill Simpson, Pat Ansell, Sally E. Kinsey, Tim O. B. Eden, Mel Greaves, Eve Roman, Christopher D. Mitchell, Patricia A. McKinney, United Kingdom Childhood Canc Stu

Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between childhood leukaemia and preceding history of allergy. A nationwide case-control study of childhood cancers was conducted in the United Kingdom with population-based sampling of cases (n=839) and controls (n=1,337), matched on age, sex and region of residence. Information about clinically diagnosed allergies was obtained from primary care records. More than a third of subjects had at least one allergy diagnosed prior to leukaemia diagnosis (cases) or pseudo-diagnosis (controls). For both total acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and common-ALL/precursor B-cell ALL (c-ALL), a history of eczema was associated with a 30% significant reduction in risk: the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 0.70 (0.51-0.97) and 0.68 (0.48-0.98), respectively. Similar associations were observed for hayfever (OR=0.47; 95% CI: 0.26-0.85 and OR=0.62; 95% CI: 0.33-1.16 for ALL and c-ALL, respectively). No such patterns were seen either for asthma and ALL, or for any allergy and acute myeloid leukaemia. A comparative analysis of primary care records with parents recall of allergy revealed only moderate agreement with contemporaneous clinical diagnoses for both cases and controls-confirming the unreliability of parental report at interview. Our finding of a reciprocal relationship between allergy and ALL in children is compatible with the hypothesis that a dysregulated immune response is a critical determinant of childhood ALL. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	819-824
Number of pages	6
Journal	International Journal of Cancer
Volume	121
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.22702
Publication status	Published - 15 Aug 2007

Keywords

child
allergy
leukaemia
lymphoblastic
acute
case-control
ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA
PARTY DIAGNOSTIC-CRITERIA
ATOPIC-DERMATITIS
ABERDEEN SCHOOLCHILDREN
RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS
ASTHMA
DISEASE
PREVALENCE
CHILDREN
CANCER

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10.1002/ijc.22702

Cite this

@article{e8bd8a52582441aaa55f3de86bd3c6f9,

title = "Allergy and risk of childhood leukaemia: Results from the UKCCS",

abstract = "We investigated the relationship between childhood leukaemia and preceding history of allergy. A nationwide case-control study of childhood cancers was conducted in the United Kingdom with population-based sampling of cases (n=839) and controls (n=1,337), matched on age, sex and region of residence. Information about clinically diagnosed allergies was obtained from primary care records. More than a third of subjects had at least one allergy diagnosed prior to leukaemia diagnosis (cases) or pseudo-diagnosis (controls). For both total acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and common-ALL/precursor B-cell ALL (c-ALL), a history of eczema was associated with a 30% significant reduction in risk: the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 0.70 (0.51-0.97) and 0.68 (0.48-0.98), respectively. Similar associations were observed for hayfever (OR=0.47; 95% CI: 0.26-0.85 and OR=0.62; 95% CI: 0.33-1.16 for ALL and c-ALL, respectively). No such patterns were seen either for asthma and ALL, or for any allergy and acute myeloid leukaemia. A comparative analysis of primary care records with parents recall of allergy revealed only moderate agreement with contemporaneous clinical diagnoses for both cases and controls-confirming the unreliability of parental report at interview. Our finding of a reciprocal relationship between allergy and ALL in children is compatible with the hypothesis that a dysregulated immune response is a critical determinant of childhood ALL. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.",

keywords = "child, allergy, leukaemia, lymphoblastic, acute, case-control, ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA, PARTY DIAGNOSTIC-CRITERIA, ATOPIC-DERMATITIS, ABERDEEN SCHOOLCHILDREN, RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS, ASTHMA, DISEASE, PREVALENCE, CHILDREN, CANCER",

author = "Hughes, {Ann M.} and Tracy Lightfoot and Jill Simpson and Pat Ansell and Kinsey, {Sally E.} and Eden, {Tim O. B.} and Mel Greaves and Eve Roman and Mitchell, {Christopher D.} and McKinney, {Patricia A.} and {United Kingdom Childhood Canc Stu}",

year = "2007",

month = aug,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1002/ijc.22702",

language = "English",

volume = "121",

pages = "819--824",

journal = "International Journal of Cancer",

issn = "0020-7136",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Allergy and risk of childhood leukaemia: Results from the UKCCS

AU - Hughes, Ann M.

AU - Lightfoot, Tracy

AU - Simpson, Jill

AU - Ansell, Pat

AU - Kinsey, Sally E.

AU - Eden, Tim O. B.

AU - Greaves, Mel

AU - Roman, Eve

AU - Mitchell, Christopher D.

AU - McKinney, Patricia A.

AU - United Kingdom Childhood Canc Stu

PY - 2007/8/15

Y1 - 2007/8/15

N2 - We investigated the relationship between childhood leukaemia and preceding history of allergy. A nationwide case-control study of childhood cancers was conducted in the United Kingdom with population-based sampling of cases (n=839) and controls (n=1,337), matched on age, sex and region of residence. Information about clinically diagnosed allergies was obtained from primary care records. More than a third of subjects had at least one allergy diagnosed prior to leukaemia diagnosis (cases) or pseudo-diagnosis (controls). For both total acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and common-ALL/precursor B-cell ALL (c-ALL), a history of eczema was associated with a 30% significant reduction in risk: the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 0.70 (0.51-0.97) and 0.68 (0.48-0.98), respectively. Similar associations were observed for hayfever (OR=0.47; 95% CI: 0.26-0.85 and OR=0.62; 95% CI: 0.33-1.16 for ALL and c-ALL, respectively). No such patterns were seen either for asthma and ALL, or for any allergy and acute myeloid leukaemia. A comparative analysis of primary care records with parents recall of allergy revealed only moderate agreement with contemporaneous clinical diagnoses for both cases and controls-confirming the unreliability of parental report at interview. Our finding of a reciprocal relationship between allergy and ALL in children is compatible with the hypothesis that a dysregulated immune response is a critical determinant of childhood ALL. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

AB - We investigated the relationship between childhood leukaemia and preceding history of allergy. A nationwide case-control study of childhood cancers was conducted in the United Kingdom with population-based sampling of cases (n=839) and controls (n=1,337), matched on age, sex and region of residence. Information about clinically diagnosed allergies was obtained from primary care records. More than a third of subjects had at least one allergy diagnosed prior to leukaemia diagnosis (cases) or pseudo-diagnosis (controls). For both total acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and common-ALL/precursor B-cell ALL (c-ALL), a history of eczema was associated with a 30% significant reduction in risk: the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 0.70 (0.51-0.97) and 0.68 (0.48-0.98), respectively. Similar associations were observed for hayfever (OR=0.47; 95% CI: 0.26-0.85 and OR=0.62; 95% CI: 0.33-1.16 for ALL and c-ALL, respectively). No such patterns were seen either for asthma and ALL, or for any allergy and acute myeloid leukaemia. A comparative analysis of primary care records with parents recall of allergy revealed only moderate agreement with contemporaneous clinical diagnoses for both cases and controls-confirming the unreliability of parental report at interview. Our finding of a reciprocal relationship between allergy and ALL in children is compatible with the hypothesis that a dysregulated immune response is a critical determinant of childhood ALL. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

KW - child

KW - allergy

KW - leukaemia

KW - lymphoblastic

KW - acute

KW - case-control

KW - ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

KW - PARTY DIAGNOSTIC-CRITERIA

KW - ATOPIC-DERMATITIS

KW - ABERDEEN SCHOOLCHILDREN

KW - RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS

KW - ASTHMA

KW - DISEASE

KW - PREVALENCE

KW - CHILDREN

KW - CANCER

U2 - 10.1002/ijc.22702

DO - 10.1002/ijc.22702

M3 - Article

SN - 0020-7136

VL - 121

SP - 819

EP - 824

JO - International Journal of Cancer

JF - International Journal of Cancer

IS - 4

ER -