Pet ownership and childhood acute leukemia (USA and canada)

Objectives: For more than three decades there has been speculation regardin g a possible role of zoonotic diseases in the development of human leukemia . This study investigated the potential relationship between exposure to pe ts and the development of childhood leukemia. Methods: Data from 2359 cases of acute leukemia from two large case-control studies were analyzed. Cases were individually matched to population contr ols on telephone exchange, age, and race. Conditional logistic regression w as used to estimate odds ratios (OR) associated with pet ownership. Results: Overall, there was no association between pet ownership (either "a ny pet", dog, or cat) and childhood acute leukemia (ORany pet:=1.01, 95% CI 0.89-1.2). Additionally, no relationship was found between exposure to an ill pet and childhood leukemia. Conclusion: The results of this analysis suggest that pet ownership (health y or sick) is unrelated to an increased risk of childhood leukemia.