Evaluation of maternal and perinatal characteristics on childhood lymphoma risk: A population-based case-control study

Background: Lymphoma is one of the most common pediatric malignancies; however, there are few well-established risk factors. Therefore, we investigated if maternal and perinatal characteristics influenced the risk of childhood lymphoma.

Procedure: Information on cases (n = 374) diagnosed with lymphoma and born in Texas for the period 1995-2011 was obtained from the Texas Cancer Registry. Birth certificate controls were randomly selected at a ratio of 10 controls per 1 case for the same period of 1995-2011. Unconditional logistic regression was used to generate unadjusted (OR) and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the following histologic subtypes: Hodgkin (HL), Burkitt (BL), and non-BL non-HLs (non-BL NHLs).

Results: Overall, our findings indicate specific maternal and perinatal characteristics influence childhood lymphoma risk. Mexico-born mothers were more likely to have offspring who developed BL compared to mothers born in the United States (U.S.; aOR: 2.15; 95% CI: 1.06-4.36). Further, mothers who resided at time of delivery in a county on the U.S.-Mexico border were more likely to give birth to offspring who developed non-BL NHL (aOR: 1.72; 95% CI: 1.11-2.67) compared to mothers not living on the U.S.-Mexico border at time of infant birth. Last, infants born large-for-gestational-age experienced a twofold increase in BL risk (aOR: 2.00; 95% CI: 1.10-3.65).

Conclusions: In this population-based assessment, we confirmed previously reported risk predictors of childhood lymphoma, including sex of infant, while highlighting novel risk factors that warrant assessment in future studies.