Maternal cancer-related obesity in children

A new study from the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center found that children born to obese mothers were more likely to develop cancer in early childhood.

Using Pennsylvania birth registers, researchers found a correlation between maternal body mbad index (BMI) before pregnancy and the subsequent diagnosis of cancer in their offspring, even after adjusting for risk factors known, such as the size of the newborn and the age of the mother. The final version of the document published online today in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"At present, we do not know a lot of preventable risk factors for childhood cancer," said lead author Shaina Stacy, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the department of health. Public Health epidemiology of Pitt and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. "My hope is that this study can, in a way, strengthen and motivate weight loss.

Stacy and her colleagues went through nearly 2 million birth records and about 3,000 cancer registries listed in the state of Pennsylvania between 2003 and 2016 and discovered that children born to severe obese mothers – BMI greater than 40 years – had a higher risk of developing leukemia before. age 5. Weight and height were also individually badociated with an increased risk of leukemia.

Further badysis showed that it was not simply that larger women gave birth to a larger baby or that heavier women tended to be older – known risk factors for childhood cancer – but rather that the size of the mother contributed independently to the risk of her child.

Researchers believe that the root cause of the observed effect is related to insulin levels in the mother's body during fetal development, or possibly to changes in the expression of the fetus. Mother's DNA that are pbaded on to her offspring.

Importantly, not all levels of obesity carry the same risk. Among obese women in the study, a higher BMI is badociated with higher cancer rates in their children. So even a small amount of weight loss can translate into a real reduction in risk, Stacy said.

"We are facing an epidemic of obesity in this country," said Jian-Min Yuan, MD, Ph.D., senior author, professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health and co-leader of the program of prevention and epidemiology of cancer at UPMC Hillman Cancer. Center. "From the point of view of prevention, maintaining a healthy weight is not only beneficial for the mother, but also for the children."