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Autism in children and adolescents with cancer
Author(s) -
Blatt Julie,
Deal Allison M.,
Mesibov Gary
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.22303
Subject(s) - medicine , concordance , autism , cancer , pediatric cancer , sarcoma , population , disease , medical diagnosis , lymphoma , leukemia , pediatrics , blood cancer , oncology , psychiatry , pathology , environmental health
Background The causes of autistic disorders (AD) are not known. Abnormalities of tumor suppressor genes have suggested that these genes may be important to the development of autism in some cases, and result in an increased risk of developing cancer or other neoplasms. We explore possible associations between AD and childhood cancer. Procedure We reviewed our institutional pediatric cancer database for all new cancer diagnoses 1997–2007. Medical records from patients older than 2 years at last visit were reviewed for a diagnosis of AD. The prevalence of AD was estimated for neoplasms overall and for specific tumor types, and compared with that in the general pediatric population. Results Of 702 eligible patients, 7 (1%; 95% CI: (0.4%, 2.04%)) were labeled as AD, not different than the prevalence of AD in North Carolina's general population (0.65%, P = 0.35). Cancer diagnoses for these 7 children were acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 1), acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (n = 2), non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 1), Hodgkin Disease (n = 1), brain tumor (n = 1), osteogenic sarcoma (n = 1). Conclusions These data do not suggest that there is a high concordance between AD and childhood cancer. However, studies of large rigorously characterized AD cohorts will be needed to definitively address this issue. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2010; 54:144–147. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.