title: Perinatal characteristics and retinoblastoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The etiology of retinoblastoma remains poorly understood. In the present study, we examined associations between perinatal factors and retinoblastoma risk in California children.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 609 retinoblastoma cases (420 unilateral, 187 bilateral, and 2 with laterality unknown) from California Cancer Registry records of diagnoses 1988-2007 among children < 6 years of age. We randomly selected 209,051 controls from California birth rolls. The source of most study data was birth certificates. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations between retinoblastoma and perinatal characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bilateral retinoblastoma was associated with greater paternal age [for fathers over 35, crude odds ratio (OR) = 1.73, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.20, 2.47] and with twin births (OR = 1.93, 95 % CI 0.99, 3.79). Among unilateral cases, we observed an increased risk among children of US-born Hispanic mothers (OR = 1.34, 95 % CI 1.01, 1.77) while a decreased risk was observed for infants born to mothers with less than 9 years of education (OR = 0.70, 95 % CI 0.49, 1.00), a group that consisted primarily of mothers born in Mexico. We observed that maternal infection in pregnancy with any STD (OR = 3.59, 95 % CI 1.58, 8.15) was associated with bilateral retinoblastoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supports the findings of previous investigations reporting associations between parental age, HPV infection, and retinoblastoma.
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Box 951772, 650 Charles E. Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. jeheck@ucla.edu
authors: Julia E
authors: JE
authors: Heck
authors: Christina A
authors: CA
authors: Lombardi
authors: Travis J
authors: TJ
authors: Meyers
authors: Myles
authors: M
authors: Cockburn
authors: Michelle
authors: M
authors: Wilhelm
authors: Beate
authors: B
authors: Ritz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010331:Paternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D019572:Retinal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D012175:Retinoblastoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult