Investigation of Parent-Related Etiologic Factors in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

In this study, we investigated parental history and habits in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and we wanted to point at possible factors that can affect the risk of leukemia. The parents of 105 children diagnosed and treated as ALL between the years 1997–2007 in our Clinic of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology were questioned and results were compared with control group that consisted of 102 healthy children with similar age and gender. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of maternal and paternal age (p>0.05). Even though the rates of family history of leukemia and other cancer types were higher in the leukemia group, there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). Rate of having genetic disease in family history was significantly higher in leukemia group and was associated with an increased leukemia risk (OR: 8.33; %95 CI= 1.02–67.85, p:0.035). Although the rate of miscarriages of mother was higher in leukemia group, there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of maternal food consumption. The rate of vitamin and iron supplement use was significantly lower in leukemia group (p:0.017; p:0.002). The rate of folic acid and fish oil use was higher in control group; however there was no significant difference (p>0.05). There was no difference between the groups in terms of oral contraceptive use, X-ray exposure of mothers before conception, infection during pregnancy, hypertension and other diseases in pregnancy. The rate of medication use among mothers was significantly higher in leukemia group (p:0.001). Cigarette smoking was not common among mothers in both groups. When fathers were compared, the rates of cigarette smoking ≥1 package/day (OR: 2.00; %95 CI= 1.02–3.91, p:0.041) an ≥20 package-years (OR: 1.95; %95 CI= 1.00–3.66, p:0.048) were significantly higher in leukemia group. Besides, the rate of routine alcohol consumption was significantly higher among fathers in leukemia group (OR: 6.45; %95 CI= 1.42–29.59, p: 0.029). No significant difference was found between the groups in terms of prenatal x-ray exposure and drug intake when fathers were compared (p>0.05). In conclusion, leukemia is a disease with multi-factorial etiology like most of the other cancer types that arise as a result of interactions between genes and environment. The risk of leukemia may increase as a result of cigarette and alcohol consumption that can lead to chromosomal abnormalities especially in genetically susceptible children.