ASPO Abstracts
Parental unemployment and receipt of social and unemployment benefits at conception and risk for childhood cancer in offspring
Category: Cancer Health Disparities, International Issues in Cancer
Conference Year: 2018
Abstract Body:
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parental unemployment and receipt of social benefits, as markers of a negative “healthy worker effect,” at conception and the risk of childhood cancer in offspring. Methods: From the Danish Cancer Registry, we identified all childhood cancer cases younger than 16 years of age (N=2,304) among children born in Denmark 1993-2014 and diagnosed with cancer 1993-2015. Controls (N=230,400) were frequency matched by birth year and sex and taken from Central Population Register records. Parental employment information and receipt of social benefits (including unemployment benefits) was derived from the Supplementary Pension Fund, which has compulsory membership for all paid employees in Denmark. Covariate and health information was ascertained via linkage to the Central Population Register, Medical Births Register, and the Hospital Register. We used conditional logistic regression to determine associations with unemployment at conception for specific cancer types. Analyses were limited to parents older than age 27 at the time of their child’s birth. Results: Any maternal unemployment was related to Non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL; OR=1.71, 95% CI 1.02- 2.89) and retinoblastoma (2.03, 1.15-3.58). In the subgroup of mothers receiving social benefits we estimated elevated ORs for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL; 2.76, 2.09-3.65), acute myeloid leukemia (AML; 2.27, 1.21-4.27), NHL (5.88, 2.90-11.92), neuroblastoma (3.03, 1.69-5.43), rhabdomyosarcoma (3.87, 1.78-8.42), and Wilms tumor (2.09, 1.01-4.34). Any paternal unemployment was associated with bone tumors (1.67, 1.11- 2.50) and retinoblastoma (2.23, 1.33-3.74). When limiting the sample of fathers to those receiving social benefits, we estimated associations with ALL (5.53, 3.80-8.04), astrocytoma (7.74, 4.02-14.88), germ cell tumors (19.11, 8.20-44.52), and retinoblastoma (8.38, 3.51-20.0). We explore potential reasons for these associations including health behavior and prevalence of chronic diseases. Conclusions: In this population-based study, we observed that receipt of social benefits at conception may be a marker for greater cancer risk in children.
Keywords: Unemployment; childhood cancer; social benefits