REPORTED INFLUENZA IN PREGNANCY AND CHILDHOOD TUMOR

The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that exposure t o influenza in pregnancy increases the risk of tumour of certain type in childhood. Children ages 17 years or less diagnosed in Greece with brain tumours or neuroblastomas from 1982 to 1993 (n = 94) were contra sted to 210 controls selected from the same hospitals. Mothers of thes e children were interviewed about a variety of possible etiologic fact ors. The prevalence of influenza in Greece for each year during the pe riod 1984-1992 was also compared with the number of children born duri ng the same year who subsequently developed brain tumour or neuroblast oma. The results indicate a significant association between influenza in pregnant women and occurrence of tumour in index child (OR: 3.15, 9 5% CI: 1.13-8.77). These results persisted when adjustment for potenti al confounding factors was made. The findings should be interpreted ca utiously because of lack of serologic documentation of information abo ut infection obtained in interviews. A positive correlation (r = 0.74) of the number of tumour births by year of birth with the prevalence o f influenza during the same year was also noted. This exploratory stud y is one of the few case-control studies of the epidemiology of childh ood tumours in children, and the results suggest directions for future epidemiologic studies in this relatively uncharted field.