Maternal consumption of coffee and tea during pregnancy and risk of childhood ALL: results from an Australian case-control study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether maternal coffee and/or tea consumption during the last 6 months of pregnancy was associated with risk of childhood ALL.


METHODS
Data on coffee and tea drinking during pregnancy from 337 case mothers and 697 control mothers were analyzed using unconditional multivariable logistic regression. A meta-analysis of our findings with those of previous studies was also conducted.


RESULTS
There was little evidence of an overall association between maternal coffee consumption and risk of ALL: OR 0.89 (95% CI 0.61, 1.30), although there was some suggestion that higher levels of intake might increase the risk in children of non-smoking mothers: OR for 2+ cups/day = 1.44 (95% CI 0.85, 2.42); this was supported by our meta-analysis. Risk was also elevated among cases with chromosomal translocations. The overall OR for maternal tea consumption was 0.82 (95% CI 0.56, 1.18), although the OR for T-cell ALL was 0.21 (95% CI 0.08, 0.51). Among ALL cases with translocations, the ORs for tea consumption tended to be elevated: OR = 1.70 (95% CI 0.79-3.68) for 2+ cups/day.


CONCLUSIONS
The observed increased risk associated with coffee and tea consumption may be confined to ALL with translocations. These associations should be explored further in large international consortia.
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, West Perth, Australia. lizm@ichr.uwa.edu.au
Elizabeth
E
Milne
Jill A
JA
Royle
Lisa C
LC
Bennett
Nicholas H
NH
de Klerk
Helen D
HD
Bailey
Carol
C
Bower
Margaret
M
Miller
John
J
Attia
Rodney J
RJ
Scott
Maria
M
Kirby
Bruce K
BK
Armstrong
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003069:Coffee; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013662:Tea
D003069:Coffee; D013662:Tea