Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1982 Jun;36(2):96–101. doi: 10.1136/jech.36.2.96

Prenatal factors in the aetiology of testicular cancer: an epidemiological study of childhood testicular cancer deaths in Great Britain, 1953-73.

A J Swerdlow, C A Stiller, L M Wilson
PMCID: PMC1052902  PMID: 7119662

Abstract

A case-control study is reported based on 87 deaths from testicular cancer that occurred in children in Great Britain 1953-73. Factors that significantly increased relative risk were tuberculosis of the mother during the index pregnancy and maternal epilepsy; factors that increased risk but not significantly were hyperemesis in the index pregnancy, a maternal history of stillbirths, and hernia and genitourinary defects in the child. Cryptorchidism was not studied. The available evidence suggests that prenatal determinants of testicular cancer in adults are also determinants of testicular cancer in childhood. The incidence and mortality from this disease are not increasing among children in Britain and other countries, whereas there is an increasing trend in young adults in several developed countries. Probably, therefore, the secular increase in the rates of young adult testicular cancer is due to factors that affect adults but not children, the hence are likely to be postnatal.

Full text

PDF
96

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bithell J. F., Stewart A. M. Pre-natal irradiation and childhood malignancy: a review of British data from the Oxford Survey. Br J Cancer. 1975 Mar;31(3):271–287. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1975.62. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Fedrick J. Epilepsy and pregnancy: a report from the Oxford Record Linkage Study. Br Med J. 1973 May 26;2(5864):442–448. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5864.442. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. GRUMET R. F., MACMAHON B. Trends in mortality from neoplasms of the testis. Cancer. 1958 Jul-Aug;11(4):790–797. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(195807/08)11:4<790::aid-cncr2820110417>3.0.co;2-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Henderson B. E., Benton B., Jing J., Yu M. C., Pike M. C. Risk factors for cancer of the testis in young men. Int J Cancer. 1979 May 15;23(5):598–602. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910230503. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lee H. A., Hitosugi M., Petersen G. R. Rise in mortality from tumors of the testis in Japan, 1947-70. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1973 Nov;51(5):1485–1490. doi: 10.1093/jnci/51.5.1485. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Li F. P., Fraumeni J. F. Testicular cancers in children: epidemiologic characteristics. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1972 Jun;48(6):1575–1581. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Loughlin J. E., Robboy S. J., Morrison A. S. Risk factors for cancer of the testis. N Engl J Med. 1980 Jul 10;303(2):112–113. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198007103030218. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Morrison A. S. Cryptorchidism, hernia, and cancer of the testis. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1976 Apr;56(4):731–733. doi: 10.1093/jnci/56.4.731. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Morrison A. S. Some social and medical characteristics of Army men with testicular cancer. Am J Epidemiol. 1976 Nov;104(5):511–516. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112323. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Petersen G. R., Lee J. A. Secular trends of malignant tumors of the testis in white men. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1972 Aug;49(2):339–354. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. STEWART A., WEBB J., HEWITT D. A survey of childhood malignancies. Br Med J. 1958 Jun 28;1(5086):1495–1508. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5086.1495. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schottenfeld D., Warshauer M. E., Sherlock S., Zauber A. G., Leder M., Payne R. The epidemiology of testicular cancer in young adults. Am J Epidemiol. 1980 Aug;112(2):232–246. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112989. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Zinner S. H. Bacteriuria and babies revisited. N Engl J Med. 1979 Apr 12;300(15):853–855. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197904123001510. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Zook B. C., London W. T., Sever J. L., Sauer R. M. Experimental lead paint poisoning in nonhuman primates. I. Clinical signs and course. J Med Primatol. 1976;5(1):23–40. doi: 10.1159/000459904. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES