title: High birth weight and risk of specific childhood cancers: a report from the Children's Cancer Group.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  High birth weight has been associated with a number of childhood cancers. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that elevated birth weight is associated with an increased risk of diagnosis-specific and age-specific groups of childhood cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study, using a large Children's Cancer Group database, examined birth weight as a risk factor for childhood cancer. Birth weight information for the index child was available for 3711 cases and 816 control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a statistically significant increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Wilms' tumor, and neuroblastoma with increasing birth weight (p, trend = 0.006, 0.003, and 0.001, respectively). A statistically significant decreased risk of cancer was observed for soft tissue sarcoma (p, trend = 0.04). When data were stratified on the basis of age at diagnosis, many of these associations were apparent for children whose disease was diagnosed before the age of 2 years. Moreover, for acute myeloid leukemia, age at diagnosis was an important effect modifier. For children with acute myeloid leukemia whose disease was diagnosed before 2 years of age, there was a statistically significant increased risk with high birth weight (odds ratio = 2.5, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 5.5); there was no increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia with high birth weight noted for children whose disease was diagnosed after 2 years of age (odds ratio 1.3, 95% confidence interval 0.8 to 2.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Biologic studies are needed to address why high birth weight may increase risk (particularly at younger ages) of development of certain cancers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Practice, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Yeazel
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ruccione
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Robison
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016162:Genes, Wilms Tumor; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009396:Wilms Tumor / Q000453:epidemiology*