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Season of birth and risk of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Crump, Casey ; Sundquist, Jan LU ; Sieh, Weiva ; Winkleby, Marilyn LU and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2014) In International Journal of Cancer 135(11). p.2735-2739
Abstract
Infectious etiologies have been hypothesized for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (HL and NHL) in early life, but findings to date for specific lymphomas and periods of susceptibility are conflicting. We conducted the first national cohort study to examine whether season of birth, a proxy for infectious exposures in the first few months of life, is associated with HL or NHL in childhood through young adulthood. A total of 3,571,574 persons born in Sweden in 1973-2008 were followed up through 2009 to examine the association between season of birth and incidence of HL (943 cases) or NHL (936 cases). We found a sinusoidal pattern in NHL risk by season of birth (p = 0.04), with peak risk occurring among birthdates in April. Relative to persons... (More)
Infectious etiologies have been hypothesized for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (HL and NHL) in early life, but findings to date for specific lymphomas and periods of susceptibility are conflicting. We conducted the first national cohort study to examine whether season of birth, a proxy for infectious exposures in the first few months of life, is associated with HL or NHL in childhood through young adulthood. A total of 3,571,574 persons born in Sweden in 1973-2008 were followed up through 2009 to examine the association between season of birth and incidence of HL (943 cases) or NHL (936 cases). We found a sinusoidal pattern in NHL risk by season of birth (p = 0.04), with peak risk occurring among birthdates in April. Relative to persons born in fall (September-November), odds ratios for NHL by season of birth were 1.25 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-1.50; p = 0.02] for spring (March-May), 1.22 (95% CI, 1.01-1.48; p = 0.04) for summer (June-August) and 1.11 (95% CI, 0.91-1.35; p = 0.29) for winter (December-February). These findings did not vary by sex, age at diagnosis or major sub-types. In contrast, there was no seasonal association between birthdate and risk of HL (p = 0.78). In this large cohort study, birth in spring or summer was associated with increased risk of NHL (but not HL) in childhood through young adulthood, possibly related to immunologic effects of delayed infectious exposures compared with fall or winter birth. These findings suggest that immunologic responses in early infancy may play an important role in the development of NHL. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, risk factors, seasons
in
International Journal of Cancer
volume
135
issue
11
pages
2735 - 2739
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000342811800026
  • scopus:84921661856
ISSN
0020-7136
DOI
10.1002/ijc.28909
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
446c5376-a51c-4e23-b859-94131dbad8a3 (old id 4796258)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:00:19
date last changed
2022-04-19 21:43:10
@article{446c5376-a51c-4e23-b859-94131dbad8a3,
  abstract     = {{Infectious etiologies have been hypothesized for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (HL and NHL) in early life, but findings to date for specific lymphomas and periods of susceptibility are conflicting. We conducted the first national cohort study to examine whether season of birth, a proxy for infectious exposures in the first few months of life, is associated with HL or NHL in childhood through young adulthood. A total of 3,571,574 persons born in Sweden in 1973-2008 were followed up through 2009 to examine the association between season of birth and incidence of HL (943 cases) or NHL (936 cases). We found a sinusoidal pattern in NHL risk by season of birth (p = 0.04), with peak risk occurring among birthdates in April. Relative to persons born in fall (September-November), odds ratios for NHL by season of birth were 1.25 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-1.50; p = 0.02] for spring (March-May), 1.22 (95% CI, 1.01-1.48; p = 0.04) for summer (June-August) and 1.11 (95% CI, 0.91-1.35; p = 0.29) for winter (December-February). These findings did not vary by sex, age at diagnosis or major sub-types. In contrast, there was no seasonal association between birthdate and risk of HL (p = 0.78). In this large cohort study, birth in spring or summer was associated with increased risk of NHL (but not HL) in childhood through young adulthood, possibly related to immunologic effects of delayed infectious exposures compared with fall or winter birth. These findings suggest that immunologic responses in early infancy may play an important role in the development of NHL.}},
  author       = {{Crump, Casey and Sundquist, Jan and Sieh, Weiva and Winkleby, Marilyn and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{0020-7136}},
  keywords     = {{Hodgkin lymphoma; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; risk factors; seasons}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{2735--2739}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Cancer}},
  title        = {{Season of birth and risk of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.28909}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ijc.28909}},
  volume       = {{135}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}