Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

The BMJ logoLink to The BMJ
. 1993 Oct 16;307(6910):959–966. doi: 10.1136/bmj.307.6910.959

Paternal radiation exposure and leukaemia in offspring: the Ontario case-control study.

J R McLaughlin 1, W D King 1, T W Anderson 1, E A Clarke 1, J P Ashmore 1
PMCID: PMC1679166  PMID: 8241906

Abstract

OBJECTIVES--To test the hypothesis that there is an association between childhood leukaemia and the occupational exposure of fathers to ionising radiation before a child's conception. DESIGN--Case-control study with eight matched controls per case. SETTING--Regions of Ontario, Canada, with an operating nuclear facility. SUBJECTS--Cases were children (age 0-14) who died from or were diagnosed as having leukaemia from 1950 to 1988 and were born to mothers living in the vicinity of an operating nuclear facility. Controls were identified from birth certificates, matched by date of birth and residence at birth. There were 112 cases and 890 controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Paternal radiation exposure was determined by a record linkage to the Canadian National Dose Registry. RESULTS--Six fathers of cases and 53 fathers of controls had had a total whole body dose > 0.0 mSv before the child's conception, resulting in an odds ratio of 0.87 (95% confidence interval 0.32 to 2.34). There was no evidence of an increased leukaemia risk in relation to any exposure period (lifetime or six months or three months before conception) or exposure type (total whole body dose, external whole body dose, or tritium dose), except for radon exposure to uranium miners, which had a large odds ratio that was not significantly different from the null value. CONCLUSIONS--The findings of this study in Ontario did not support the hypothesis that childhood leukaemia is associated with the occupational exposure of fathers to ionising radiation before the child's conception.

Full text

PDF
959

Selected References

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

  1. Alexander F. E., Cartwright R. A., McKinney P. A. Paternal occupations of children with leukemia. BMJ. 1992 Sep 19;305(6855):715–716. doi: 10.1136/bmj.305.6855.715-a. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Buckley J. D., Robison L. L., Swotinsky R., Garabrant D. H., LeBeau M., Manchester P., Nesbit M. E., Odom L., Peters J. M., Woods W. G. Occupational exposures of parents of children with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia: a report from the Childrens Cancer Study Group. Cancer Res. 1989 Jul 15;49(14):4030–4037. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Craft A. W., Openshaw S., Birch J. Apparent clusters of childhood lymphoid malignancy in Northern England. Lancet. 1984 Jul 14;2(8394):96–97. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)90260-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fabia J., Thuy T. D. Occupation of father at time of birth of children dying of malignant diseases. Br J Prev Soc Med. 1974 May;28(2):98–100. doi: 10.1136/jech.28.2.98. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gardner M. J., Hall A. J., Downes S., Terrell J. D. Follow up study of children born elsewhere but attending schools in Seascale, West Cumbria (schools cohort). Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1987 Oct 3;295(6602):819–822. doi: 10.1136/bmj.295.6602.819. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gardner M. J., Hall A. J., Downes S., Terrell J. D. Follow up study of children born to mothers resident in Seascale, West Cumbria (birth cohort). Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1987 Oct 3;295(6602):822–827. doi: 10.1136/bmj.295.6602.822. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gardner M. J., Hall A. J., Snee M. P., Downes S., Powell C. A., Terrell J. D. Methods and basic data of case-control study of leukaemia and lymphoma among young people near Sellafield nuclear plant in West Cumbria. BMJ. 1990 Feb 17;300(6722):429–434. doi: 10.1136/bmj.300.6722.429. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gardner M. J. Paternal occupations of children with leukemia. BMJ. 1992 Sep 19;305(6855):715–715. doi: 10.1136/bmj.305.6855.715. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gardner M. J., Snee M. P., Hall A. J., Powell C. A., Downes S., Terrell J. D. Results of case-control study of leukaemia and lymphoma among young people near Sellafield nuclear plant in West Cumbria. BMJ. 1990 Feb 17;300(6722):423–429. doi: 10.1136/bmj.300.6722.423. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Henshaw D. L., Eatough J. P., Richardson R. B. Radon as a causative factor in induction of myeloid leukaemia and other cancers. Lancet. 1990 Apr 28;335(8696):1008–1012. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(90)91071-h. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kinlen L. J., Clarke K., Balkwill A. Paternal preconceptional radiation exposure in the nuclear industry and leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in young people in Scotland. BMJ. 1993 May 1;306(6886):1153–1158. doi: 10.1136/bmj.306.6886.1153. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Linet M. S., Devesa S. S. Descriptive epidemiology of childhood leukaemia. Br J Cancer. 1991 Mar;63(3):424–429. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1991.98. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lowengart R. A., Peters J. M., Cicioni C., Buckley J., Bernstein L., Preston-Martin S., Rappaport E. Childhood leukemia and parents' occupational and home exposures. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1987 Jul;79(1):39–46. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. McKinney P. A., Alexander F. E., Cartwright R. A., Parker L. Parental occupations of children with leukaemia in west Cumbria, north Humberside, and Gateshead. BMJ. 1991 Mar 23;302(6778):681–687. doi: 10.1136/bmj.302.6778.681. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. McLaughlin J. R., Clarke E. A., Nishri E. D., Anderson T. W. Childhood leukemia in the vicinity of Canadian nuclear facilities. Cancer Causes Control. 1993 Jan;4(1):51–58. doi: 10.1007/BF00051714. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Michaelis J., Keller B., Haaf G., Kaatsch P. Incidence of childhood malignancies in the vicinity of west German nuclear power plants. Cancer Causes Control. 1992 May;3(3):255–263. doi: 10.1007/BF00124259. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Robles S. C., Marrett L. D., Clarke E. A., Risch H. A. An application of capture-recapture methods to the estimation of completeness of cancer registration. J Clin Epidemiol. 1988;41(5):495–501. doi: 10.1016/0895-4356(88)90052-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Roman E., Watson A., Beral V., Buckle S., Bull D., Baker K., Ryder H., Barton C. Case-control study of leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among children aged 0-4 years living in west Berkshire and north Hampshire health districts. BMJ. 1993 Mar 6;306(6878):615–621. doi: 10.1136/bmj.306.6878.615. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sorahan T., Roberts P. J. Childhood cancer and paternal exposure to ionizing radiation: preliminary findings from the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers. Am J Ind Med. 1993 Feb;23(2):343–354. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700230211. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Stiller C. A. Descriptive epidemiology of childhood leukaemia and lymphoma in Great Britain. Leuk Res. 1985;9(6):671–674. doi: 10.1016/0145-2126(85)90273-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Urquhart J. D., Black R. J., Muirhead M. J., Sharp L., Maxwell M., Eden O. B., Jones D. A. Case-control study of leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in children in Caithness near the Dounreay nuclear installation. BMJ. 1991 Mar 23;302(6778):687–692. doi: 10.1136/bmj.302.6778.687. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Yoshimoto Y. Cancer risk among children of atomic bomb survivors. A review of RERF epidemiologic studies. Radiation Effects Research Foundation. JAMA. 1990 Aug 1;264(5):596–600. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Yoshimoto Y., Neel J. V., Schull W. J., Kato H., Soda M., Eto R., Mabuchi K. Malignant tumors during the first 2 decades of life in the offspring of atomic bomb survivors. Am J Hum Genet. 1990 Jun;46(6):1041–1052. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from BMJ : British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES