TY - JOUR
TI - Reported influenza in pregnancy and childhood tumour
AU - Linos, A
AU - Kardara, M
AU - Kosmidis, H
AU - Katriou, D
AU - Hatzis, C and
AU - Kontzoglou, M
AU - Koumandakis, E
AU - Tzartzatou-Stathopoulou, F
JO - European Journal of Epidemiology
PY - 1998
VL - 14
TODO - 5
SP - 471-475
PB - KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBL
SN - 0393-2990, 1573-7284
TODO - 10.1023/A:1007437200858
TODO - childhood; influenza; pregnancy; tumour
TODO - The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that exposure to
influenza in pregnancy increases the risk of tumour of certain type in
childhood. Children ages 17 years or less diagnosed in Greece with brain
tumours or neuroblastomas from 1982 to 1993 (n = 94) were contrasted to
210 controls selected from the same hospitals. Mothers of these children
were interviewed about a variety of possible etiologic factors. The
prevalence of influenza in Greece for each year during the period
1984-1992 was also compared with the number of children born during the
same year who subsequently developed brain tumour or neuroblastoma. The
results indicate a significant association between influenza in pregnant
women and occurrence of tumour in index child (OR: 3.15, 95% CI:
1.13-8.77). These results persisted when adjustment for potential
confounding factors was made. The findings should be interpreted
cautiously because of lack of serologic documentation of information
about infection obtained in interviews. A positive correlation (r =
0.74) of the number of tumour births by year of birth with the
prevalence of influenza during the same year was also noted. This
exploratory study is one of the few case-control studies of the
epidemiology of childhood tumours in children, and the results suggest
directions for future epidemiologic studies in this relatively uncharted
field.
ER -