An Observational Case-Control Study on Parental Age and Childhood Renal Tumors

Simple Summary Wilms tumor (WT), as the most common renal tumor in childhood, is treated very successfully within prospective trials and studies. The association with various genetic alterations has been studied, but it is still unclear why a WT develops in a specific child and why some children suffer from relapse. Genetic risk and external, environmental factors need further attention. Parental age at birth plays a role in various childhood diseases, so it is reasonable to also investigate whether older parental age is a risk factor for the development of childhood renal tumors. We could demonstrate that parental age has no correlation with the incidence of renal tumors in childhood.Abstract Despite excellent outcomes, many open questions remain about Wilms tumor (WT). Influences and risk factors for tumorigenesis, as well as tumor aggressiveness and recurrence, are not fully understood. Parental age plays a role in various childhood diseases and is also discussed as a risk factor for childhood cancer. We analyzed both maternal and paternal age at birth as risk factors for the occurrence of Wilms and non-Wilms tumors in children and investigated whether older maternal or paternal age is associated with a higher tumor incidence. During 1990 and 2019 we collected data from 3991 patients from the multicenter studies SIOP9/GPO, SIOP 93-01/GPOH, and SIOP 2001/GPOH, of whom maternal and paternal age was available in 2277 cases. Data from the Federal Statistical Office containing live births in Germany from 1990-2019 served as a comparative database. For maternal age at birth, the control data yielded 22,451,412 cases and for paternal age yielded 19,046,314 cases. Comparing maternal and paternal ages of the study patients with those of the control data, we confirmed that higher parental age is not correlated with the incidence of renal tumors in childhood. Mean ages of fathers and mothers in patients and the control cohort increased between 1991 and 2019 (fathers: 30.28 vs. 34.04; mothers: 27.68 vs. 29.79 in the patient group and 31.29 vs. 34.23 and 28.88 vs. 32.67 in the control group, respectively) without higher numbers of patients with kidney cancer over time. No influence was found for the subtype of cancer nor for syndromes. In addition, overall survival of patients is independent of the year of diagnosis and the age of the parents but depends on histology type and stage in WT.

Automated summary

Despite successful treatment outcomes, there are still many unanswered questions regarding Wilms tumor (WT). The influences and risk factors for tumorigenesis, as well as tumor aggressiveness and recurrence, are not fully understood. Parental age is considered a risk factor for childhood cancer, but our study showed that higher parental age is not correlated with the incidence of renal tumors in childhood.