TY - JOUR
T1 - Childhood cancer mortality and birth characteristics in Korea
T2 - A national population-based birth cohort study
AU - Cha, Eun Shil
AU - Kong, Kyoung Ae
AU - Moon, Eun Kyeong
AU - Khang, Young Ho
AU - Lee, Won Jin
PY - 2011/3
Y1 - 2011/3
N2 - To examine the relationship between birth characteristics and childhood cancer mortality, a retrospective cohort study of Korean children was conducted using data collected by the national birth register between 1995 and 2006, which were then individually linked to death data. A cohort of 6,479,406 children was followed from birth until their death or until December 31, 2006. Poisson regression analyses were used to calculate rate ratios of childhood cancer deaths according to birth characteristics. A total of 1,469 cancer deaths were noted and the childhood cancer mortality rate was found to be 3.43 per 100,000 person-years in Korea during the period of 1995-2006. The birth characteristics examined in this study (i.e., birth weight, gestational age, multiple births, parental ages, and number of siblings) were generally found to be not significantly associated with childhood cancer mortality, and the associations did not vary meaningfully with gender nor with cancer sites. However, among children aged 5-11 yr, higher birth weight was associated with elevated childhood cancer mortality (rate ratio = 1.28, 95% confidence interval 1.04-1.58). Our results offer no overall associations between childhood cancer mortality and birth characteristics, but suggest that the association may be specific to age group.
AB - To examine the relationship between birth characteristics and childhood cancer mortality, a retrospective cohort study of Korean children was conducted using data collected by the national birth register between 1995 and 2006, which were then individually linked to death data. A cohort of 6,479,406 children was followed from birth until their death or until December 31, 2006. Poisson regression analyses were used to calculate rate ratios of childhood cancer deaths according to birth characteristics. A total of 1,469 cancer deaths were noted and the childhood cancer mortality rate was found to be 3.43 per 100,000 person-years in Korea during the period of 1995-2006. The birth characteristics examined in this study (i.e., birth weight, gestational age, multiple births, parental ages, and number of siblings) were generally found to be not significantly associated with childhood cancer mortality, and the associations did not vary meaningfully with gender nor with cancer sites. However, among children aged 5-11 yr, higher birth weight was associated with elevated childhood cancer mortality (rate ratio = 1.28, 95% confidence interval 1.04-1.58). Our results offer no overall associations between childhood cancer mortality and birth characteristics, but suggest that the association may be specific to age group.
KW - Birth weight
KW - Child
KW - Cohort studies
KW - Mortality
KW - Neoplasms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79953763091&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3346/jkms.2011.26.3.339
DO - 10.3346/jkms.2011.26.3.339
M3 - Article
C2 - 21394300
AN - SCOPUS:79953763091
SN - 1011-8934
VL - 26
SP - 339
EP - 345
JO - Journal of Korean Medical Science
JF - Journal of Korean Medical Science
IS - 3
ER -