ASPO Abstracts
Maternal Occupational Physical Activity and Risk of Cancer Among Offspring in Denmark 1968-2016
Category: Lifestyles Behavior, Energy Balance & Chemoprevention
Conference Year: 2022
Abstract Body:
Purpose: To our knowledge, no published studies have reported the effects of maternal occupational physical activity (OPA) during pregnancy on childhood cancer risks. Studies on job titles have indicated that maternal occupations that primarily require standing, walking or dynamic movement are related to a higher risk for specific childhood cancer. In addition, pregnancy OPA has adverse impacts on pregnancy outcomes. Here, we investigate the associations between maternal OPA during pregnancy and childhood cancer risk among offspring using registries in Denmark.Methods: We included all cancer cases born in Denmark between 1968 and 2013, aged 0-19 at diagnosis, and diagnosed between 1968 and 2016 (N= 7,077). Controls, randomly selected from the Central Population Registry, were individually matched by birth year and sex (ratio 1:25). This nested case-control data set has been linked to nationwide registries based on their unique Central Person Registry number to collect maternal employment history during pregnancy and covariate information. Maternal OPA was assessed by a Job exposure matrix based on the Nordic Occupational Cancer Study (Score: heavy or rather heavy physical work versus less heavy). Mothers who were not employed during pregnancy and/or later were excluded. Unconditional logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders was used to estimate potential effects.Results: High levels of maternal OPA during pregnancy were associated with a higher risk of medulloblastoma (adjusted OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.28-2.66) for all birth years and a higher risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (adjusted OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.00-1.47) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (adjusted OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.12-2.44) in births after the year 1977. Conclusions: High levels of maternal OPA in Denmark appear to be associated with an increased risk of ALL, AML and medulloblastoma in the offspring. If associations are corroborated, regulations that aim to protect pregnant women from being exposed to high levels of physical activity at work should be considered.
Keywords: Childhood cancer, Job-exposure matrix, Medulloblastoma, Leukemia