---

---

---

---

Science Current Events and Science News RSS Feeds

---

---

Email a Friend Printer Friendly

FOLATE SUPPLEMENTS DURING PREGNANCY COULD PROTECT AGAINST LEUKAEMIA (p 1935)

December 05, 2001

A population-based study from Western Australia in this week's issue of THE LANCET suggests that folate and iron supplementation during pregnancy might be associated with a decreased risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

ALL is the most common childhood cancer in more-developed countries but it has few recognised risk factors or preventive measures. Judith Thompson and colleagues from the Cancer Foundation of Western Australia aimed to determine and assess the risk factors associated with this disease.

The investigators assessed known and suspected risk factors for common ALL diagnosed between 1984 and 1992 of children aged 0-14 years in Western Australia. There were 83 children in the study group and 166 controls matched for age and sex (who were recruited through a postal survey of people randomly selected from the state electoral roll). Mothers of study and control children were interviewed. Fathers completed a self-administered questionnaire.

Unexpectedly, folate or iron supplementation had a protective effect against ALL. Mothers who used folate and iron supplements in pregnancy had more than a 60% reduced risk of having children who developed ALL; this protective effect was reduced to 25% for mothers who only used iron supplements. Further analyses of folate use with or without iron showed that the protective effect varied little by time of first use of supplements or for how long they were taken.

Judith Thompson comments: "Our results, though unexpected, suggest that folate supplementation in pregnancy reduces the risk of common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the child."

Lancet