Main Nutritional and Environmental Risk Factors in Children with Leukemia from a Public Hospital of the State of Guanajuato, Mexico

Abstract

Introduction:: The prevalence of leukemia in children aged under 19 years continues to increase. Nutritional and environmental factors have been described as causes of their development, and maternal breastfeeding, birth weight, exposure to cow’s milk or to contaminants before 1 year of age, and smoking have been studied. Objective:: To analyze the main nutritional and environmental risk factors in children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in a public hospital in Guanajuato, Mexico. Methods:: Analytical and cross-sectional study on 30 children under 18 years of age, with a confirmed diagnosis of ALL in a public hospital in Guanajuato, Mexico. With the signed informed consent of the children’s parents, a questionnaire was applied that collected and in which nutritional risk factors (weeks of gestation and birth weight, breastfeeding, exposure to cow’s milk) and environmental factors (smoking and exposure to arsenic) were evaluated. The frequencies and Odds Ratios (OR) of the main nutritional and environmental risk factors were obtained. Results:: Mean age was 8 ± 4 years with 38 ± 1 weeks of gestation, with a birth weight of 3,200 g (range, 2,500-4,800 g). Fifty percent of the children consumed cow’s milk during their first year of life (40% before 6 months of age); 33.3% received maternal milk for ≤6 months and 63% of the parents had a positive smoking habit, with 66.6% of the participants living in cities with arsenic levels falling outside of the norm. Conclusion:: The main nutritional and environmental risk factors found were early complementary feeding, cow’s milk prior to 1 year of age, a duration of breastfeeding of fewer than 6 months, birth weight of >3,500 g, a positive smoking habit in the children’s parents, as well as exposure to arsenic in drinking water. Identification of these risk factors could constitute an input for integrating novel prevention alternatives and the nutritional management of leukemia.