A record linkage study of the relationship between intra-uterine growth, birth weight and childhood acute leukaemia

人们对儿童白血病和癌症的病因知之甚少，这是多年来人们激烈研究的主题。急性淋巴细胞白血病（ALL）和急性髓细胞白血病（AML）是儿童癌症中最常见的类型。儿童期癌症白血病的早期诊断引起了人们对妊娠相关因素的关注。许多研究调查了出生体重和白血病风险之间的关系。一些研究报告发现，随着出生体重的增加，患急性淋巴细胞白血病的风险增加，但并非所有研究都报告了这种关系。出生体重和急性髓性白血病之间的关系甚至没有被很好地描述。许多先前的研究在分析结果时没有考虑到重要的因素。这项研究将使用现有的常规记录健康信息库，从而确保关于出生体重和母亲身高、年龄和怀孕时间等因素的准确信息。我们还将获得关于西澳大利亚州儿童癌症的完整和准确的信息。我们的结果将有助于了解儿童白血病的原因和参与其发展的生物学途径。如果与生长有关的因素确实被证明与儿童白血病的病因完全有关，那么澳大利亚和其他发达国家青少年糖尿病、超重和肥胖发病率的迅速增加可能对我们儿童的健康产生更严重的影响。我们尽快调查这个问题是很重要的。

Little is known about the causes of childhood leukaemia and cancer, and this has been the subject of intense study over many years. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) are the most common types of childhood cancers. The early age of onset of diagnosis of cancer-leukaemia in childhood has focused attention on factors related to pregnancy. Many studies have investigated the relationship between birth weight and risk of leukaemia. Some studies have reported finding an increasing risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia with increasing birth weight, but not all studies have reported this relationship. The relationship between birth weight and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia has been even less well described. Many previous studies have not taken account of important factors when analysing the results. This study will use an existing pool of routinely recorded health information, thus ensuring accurate information on birth weight and factors such as maternal height and age and the length of the pregnancy. We will also have complete and accurate information on childhood cancer in Western Australia. Our results will contribute to knowledge about the causes of childhood leukaemia and the biological pathways involved in its development. If growth-related factors do prove to be integrally involved in the aetiology of childhood leukaemia, then the rapidly increasing prevalence of juvenile diabetes, overweight and obesity in Australia and other developed countries could have even more serious implications for the health of our children. It is important that we investigate this question as soon as possible.