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Pregnancy and risk of acute myeloid leukaemia – a case–control study
Author(s) -
Larfors Gunnar,
Höglund Martin,
Cnattingius Sven
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.2011.01643.x
Subject(s) - odds ratio , medicine , myeloid leukaemia , pregnancy , confidence interval , childbirth , case control study , obstetrics , odds , myeloid , logistic regression , genetics , biology
Although maternal haematopoiesis is characterised by rapid proliferation and immunological adjustment, leukaemia seldom occurs in pregnant women. In this case–control study, we investigated pregnancy and risk of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). A total of 785 women with AML diagnosed in ages 15–50 were compared with 1576 age‐ and sex‐matched controls. At the time of diagnosis, 13 cases and 53 controls were pregnant (1.3% and 3.4%, respectively), resulting in a significantly reduced odds ratio of 0.44 (95% confidence interval 0.22–0.85). Odds ratios of AML during the years following childbirth were close to unity. The results suggest that pregnancy conveys a strong short‐term protection against AML.