title: Infectious proxies and childhood leukaemia: findings from the United Kingdom Childhood Cancer Study (UKCCS).
abstract: The United Kingdom Childhood Cancer Study (UKCCS) was specifically designed to investigate the potential etiological role of infections as one of its objectives and information on a number of markers of infectious exposure from multiple sources was collected (www.ukccs.org). This study found that a mother's recollections of past minor illness episodes in her children were unreliable, producing systematic case-control differences. From birth onwards children diagnosed with ALL between 2-5 years were found to have had more clinically diagnosed infectious illness episodes (not fewer) than unaffected children, with those with two or more neonatal infections being diagnosed with leukaemia around 7 months earlier than those with only one or none. The findings from these analyses and their implications for future research are reviewed and discussed in this paper.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Genetics Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK. eve.roman@egu.york.ac.uk
authors.forename: Eve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ansell
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lightfoot
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008499:Medical Records; D008568:Memory; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000453:epidemiology; D011203:Poverty; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology