Babies that Weigh Heavy During Birth Have More Chances Of Childhood Cancer

The heavier a baby is at birth, the more likely they are to develop childhood cancer reports a recent data collected from studies going back more than 50 years. Professor Terry Dwyer, executive director of the George Institute for Global Health, said a "significant amount of evidence" had been compiled which "effectively shows that childhood cancer incidence rises with increasing birth weight".

Professor Dwyer said after adjusting for gestational age and sex, for every kilogram increase in birth weight, there was an increased risk of 26 percent for all cancers.

"In older children, diagnosed after three, cancers other than leukaemia are particularly related to birth weight. There were no significant interactions with maternal pre-pregnancy weight or pregnancy weight gain," he said.

Experts said it was an important finding because very little was known about what causes childhood tumors. "We will also now look at cord blood measurements from infants in these studies to determine whether growth hormones of various types might explain what we have found," said Professor Dwyer.

Source-Medindia