Risk factors related to the development of childhood leukemia

Acute leukemias are the most common childhood malignancies. Hereditary and environmental factors may play a role in the development of leukemias. This study includes 307 patients (206 acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 51 acute myeloid leukemia) who received treatment in Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Hematology, and 310 patients who came for control in other polyclinics. They were evaluated with 15-20 minutes of parent interviews. The personal, familial, and environmental factors of the cases were questioned, and we aimed to evaluate the factors that could be associated with the development of leukemia. Place of birth, age of diagnosis, gender, educational status of the mother and father, smoking habits, their profession, consanguineous marriage, the age of parents when the patient was born, the detailed history of the mother's pregnancy period, the way of conception, previous pregnancies, time of birth, type of childbirth, problem during delivery, birth height and weight, breastfeeding period, diseases, CT scan during pregnancy, socioeconomic status, presence high voltage line, power plant or factory near the patients' house, presence cancer or chronic disease in the family obtained from the interviews. The risk of leukemia is 5.85 times higher in whose place of birth is in the county, 2.58 times higher in boys, 4.06 times higher in those with an average birth weight than those with small gestational age(SGA), 10.36 times higher in those with large gestational age than those with SGA, 16.74 times higher in whose parents exposed chemicals and 12.03 times higher in those living in a house which is closed to the high voltage line. As a result of this study, we determined the relationship between the risk of developing leukemia with birthplace, gender, birth weight, the father's occupation, presence of a high voltage line close to home.