The associations between maternal factors during pregnancy and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A meta-analysis

BackgroundAlthough genetic and environmental factors are considered to be the main causes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the associations between maternal factors during pregnancy and the childhood ALL is still unclear. ProcedureIn this study, meta-analysis was used. Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched. The result was assessed based on pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). ResultsThe pooled ORs showed that there were associations between childhood ALL and the birth order (The first vs others, OR=1.08, 95%CI=1.00-1.16), the education of pregnant woman (>high school vs high school, OR=0.82, 95%CI=0.77-0.86), smoking (Ever vs never, OR=1.10, 95%CI=1.02-1.19). ConclusionsOur meta-analysis showed that there were important associations between childhood ALL and the birth order, the education of pregnant woman, smoking. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2015;62:1162-1170. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.