Risk of malignant childhood germ cell tumors in relation to demographic, gestational, and perinatal characteristics

Abstract

Background Childhood germ cell tumors (GCTs) are a rare assortment of neoplasms, with mostly unknown etiology, that are believed to originate very early in life. Few studies have examined risk factors by histologic subtype, despite evidence of different risk profiles. Materials and Methods In this population-based case-control study, 451 childhood malignant GCT cases ages 0–5 years were identified from the California Cancer Registry. Differentiating between common histologic subtypes, we identified 181 yolk sac tumors, 216 teratomas, and 54 rarer subtypes. Cases were linked to their birth certificates and 271,381 controls, frequency matched by birth year, were randomly selected from California birthrolls to investigate the contributions of demographic, gestational, and pregnancy factors using unconditional logistic regression analysis. Results Compared to non-Hispanic whites, Asian/Pacific Islander children were at an increased risk for developing GCTs (odds ratio [OR]=1.94; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.47, 2.56). Among pregnancy complications and procedures, yolk sac tumors were positively associated with the presence of fetopelvic disproportion (OR=2.97; 95% CI=1.55, 5.68), while teratomas were strongly associated with polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios (OR=14.76; 95% CI=7.21, 30.19) and the presence of an ear, face, or neck anomaly at birth (OR=93.70; 95% CI=42.14, 208.82). Conclusions Malignant yolk sac tumors and malignant teratomas exhibited distinct demographic and gestational characteristics; additionally, complications in pregnancy and labor may be brought on by specific histologic subtypes.

Maternal Preeclampsia and Odds of Childhood Cancers in Offspring: A California Statewide Case–Control Study

“…Childhood cancer was more common among children born to mothers with advanced age at pregnancy, White non‐Hispanic mothers, mothers with 16 or more years of education, mothers with less frequent prenatal care visits, and mothers whose prenatal care was paid by private insurance (Tables and ). Associations between demographic factors and specific cancer subtypes have been described previously . Mothers of children with any type of childhood cancer and controls were similar in terms of parity and birth type (singleton vs. multiple gestation), but distributions varied by cancer subtype.…”

“…Associations between demographic factors and specific cancer subtypes have been described previously. [5][6][7]20,21 Mothers of children with any type of childhood cancer and controls were similar in terms of parity and birth type (singleton vs. multiple gestation), but distributions varied by cancer subtype. Table 2 shows that case children had pregnancy characteristics and delivery outcomes distinct from control children.…”

Exposure to ambient dichloromethane in pregnancy and infancy from industrial sources and childhood cancers in California

“…As this was a record-based study, we did not seek informed consent from individual subjects. The demographic and gestational characteristics of cases and controls have been previously reported (Abrahao et al, 2015; Hall et al, 2016; Heck et al, 2012; Heck et al, 2013b; Heck et al, 2014, 2015; Heck et al, 2013c; Shrestha et al, 2013). …”

Congenital neurodevelopmental anomalies in pediatric and young adult cancer

“…Multiple linkage studies have reported a prevalence of 2–3% of children with congenital anomalies in the general population (Hoyert et al, ; Yoon et al, ). Several large‐scale epidemiologic studies have provided substantial evidence of an association between congenital anomalies and cancer risk in children (Agha et al, ; Altmann, Halliday, & Giles, ; Bjorge, Cnattingius, Lie, Tretli, & Engeland, ; Botto et al, ; Carozza, Langlois, Miller, & Canfield, ; Hall, Ritz, Cockburn, Davidson, & Heck, ; Janitz et al, ; Mili, Khoury et al, ); Narod, Hawkins, Robertson, & Stiller, ; Rankin, Silf, Pearce, Parker, & Ward Platt, ; Rios et al, ; Windham, Bjerkedal, & Langmark, ). Studies have demonstrated significant associations specifically between neurological congenital anomalies and pediatric cancer (Altmann et al, ; Bjorge et al, ; Botto et al, ; Carozza et al, ; Narod et al, ), with some suggesting a specific link between neurological malformations and central nervous system tumors (Agha et al, ; Altmann et al, ; Bjorge et al, ; Narod et al, ).…”