Thema: Presse: Zusammenhang von Hirntumor, Masern und Grippe?
Presse: Zusammenhang von Hirntumor, Masern und Grippe?
Toni[a]
23.10.2003 19:19:27
POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN BRAIN CANCER, MEASLES AND FLU
TENTATIVE evidence has been uncovered of a link between childhood brain cancer and exposure to infection with measles or flu around the time of birth, scientists report in the British Journal of Cancer today.
Children in areas where cases of measles were common around the time they were born were at twice the normal risk of developing brain tumours, according to the study, while exposure to influenza appeared to triple children´s risk.
In March, Cancer Research UK scientists reported the first evidence that childhood brain cancers might be caused by infection. The new study - which researchers stress is only preliminary - is the first to suggest that particular infections may be involved.
Scientists in Newcastle examined all birth records in Cumbria from 1975 to 1992 - amounting to a total of 100,000 - and recorded in which of the county´s six districts the births took place. For each district they assessed exposure levels to a number of infections, including measles and influenza, by counting the number of cases and deaths that occurred each month.
Scientists estimated exposure levels before birth, in the three months around and immediately after birth and in the subsequent period of three months. They then attempted to relate levels of infection to the risk of developing brain tumours later on in life.
The risk of developing brain cancer before the age of 14 was more than doubled with high exposure to measles around the time of birth and more than tripled with exposure to the flu virus over the same period, the study found. Exposure to measles or flu at other times, and exposure to other kinds of infection, seemed to have no effect on cancer rates.
Lead researcher Professor Louise Parker, at the University of Newcastle´s North of England Cancer Research Unit, comments: "There´s increasing interest in the possibility that exposure to infections very early on in life might contribute to the incidence of children´s brain cancer and our study is certainly consistent with that possibility.
"It´s difficult to produce strong evidence on the causes of childhood brain cancer because the disease is rare and even when you look at large numbers of children, in our case 100,000, the number of cancers will be quite small. But our results do suggest that measles and flu could be associated with increased risk of the disease, and therefore that avoiding these infections might be one way of reducing cancer rates."
Cancer Research UK´s Prof Jillian Birch, Director of the charity´s Paediatric and Familial Cancer Research Group in Manchester, comments: "These interesting results do provide some further support for the idea that infections may be involved in childhood brain tumours. But the results should be viewed with caution as they are based on a very small number of cases. Further work is needed to see whether similar findings can be demonstrated in an independent set of data"
Sir Paul Nurse, Chief of Executive of Cancer Research UK, which owns the British Journal of Cancer, adds: "It´s important that we get to the bottom of the causes of childhood brain cancer, as this may help us to find new ways of treating the disease."
TENTATIVE evidence has been uncovered of a link between childhood brain cancer and exposure to infection with measles or flu around the time of birth, scientists report in the British Journal of Cancer today.
Children in areas where cases of measles were common around the time they were born were at twice the normal risk of developing brain tumours, according to the study, while exposure to influenza appeared to triple children´s risk.
In March, Cancer Research UK scientists reported the first evidence that childhood brain cancers might be caused by infection. The new study - which researchers stress is only preliminary - is the first to suggest that particular infections may be involved.
Scientists in Newcastle examined all birth records in Cumbria from 1975 to 1992 - amounting to a total of 100,000 - and recorded in which of the county´s six districts the births took place. For each district they assessed exposure levels to a number of infections, including measles and influenza, by counting the number of cases and deaths that occurred each month.
Scientists estimated exposure levels before birth, in the three months around and immediately after birth and in the subsequent period of three months. They then attempted to relate levels of infection to the risk of developing brain tumours later on in life.
The risk of developing brain cancer before the age of 14 was more than doubled with high exposure to measles around the time of birth and more than tripled with exposure to the flu virus over the same period, the study found. Exposure to measles or flu at other times, and exposure to other kinds of infection, seemed to have no effect on cancer rates.
Lead researcher Professor Louise Parker, at the University of Newcastle´s North of England Cancer Research Unit, comments: "There´s increasing interest in the possibility that exposure to infections very early on in life might contribute to the incidence of children´s brain cancer and our study is certainly consistent with that possibility.
"It´s difficult to produce strong evidence on the causes of childhood brain cancer because the disease is rare and even when you look at large numbers of children, in our case 100,000, the number of cancers will be quite small. But our results do suggest that measles and flu could be associated with increased risk of the disease, and therefore that avoiding these infections might be one way of reducing cancer rates."
Cancer Research UK´s Prof Jillian Birch, Director of the charity´s Paediatric and Familial Cancer Research Group in Manchester, comments: "These interesting results do provide some further support for the idea that infections may be involved in childhood brain tumours. But the results should be viewed with caution as they are based on a very small number of cases. Further work is needed to see whether similar findings can be demonstrated in an independent set of data"
Sir Paul Nurse, Chief of Executive of Cancer Research UK, which owns the British Journal of Cancer, adds: "It´s important that we get to the bottom of the causes of childhood brain cancer, as this may help us to find new ways of treating the disease."
Toni[a]
Toni[a]
23.10.2003 19:21:40
Dazu der etwas ältere Originaltext:
British Journal of Cancer (2002) 87, 746-750.
Childhood solid tumours in relation to infections in the community in Cumbria during pregnancy and around thetime of birth
H O Dickinson, T A Nyari and L Parker
North of England Children´s Cancer Research Unit, Department of Child Health, University of Newcastle, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK
Correspondence to: Professor L Parker, E-mail: louise.parker@ncl.ac.uk
Received 2 May 2002; revised 24 June 2002; accepted 24 June 2002
In a retrospective cohort study of all 99 976 live births in Cumbria, 1975-1992, we investigated whether higher levels of community infections during the mother´s pregnancy and in early life were risk factors for solid tumours (brain/spinal and other tumours), diagnosed 1975-1993 under age 15 years. Logistic regression was used to relate risk to incidence of community infections in three prenatal and two postnatal quarters. There was an increased risk of brain/spinal tumours among children exposed around or soon after birth to higher levels of community infections, in particular measles (OR for trend=2.1, 95%CI : 1.3-3.6, P=0.008) and influenza (OR for exposure=3.3, 95%CI : 1.5-7.4, P=0.005). There was some evidence of an association between exposure to infections around and soon after birth and risk of other tumours, but this may have been a chance finding. The findings are consistent with other recent epidemiological studies suggesting brain tumours may be associated with perinatal exposure to infections.
British Journal of Cancer (2002) 87, 746-750.
Childhood solid tumours in relation to infections in the community in Cumbria during pregnancy and around thetime of birth
H O Dickinson, T A Nyari and L Parker
North of England Children´s Cancer Research Unit, Department of Child Health, University of Newcastle, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK
Correspondence to: Professor L Parker, E-mail: louise.parker@ncl.ac.uk
Received 2 May 2002; revised 24 June 2002; accepted 24 June 2002
In a retrospective cohort study of all 99 976 live births in Cumbria, 1975-1992, we investigated whether higher levels of community infections during the mother´s pregnancy and in early life were risk factors for solid tumours (brain/spinal and other tumours), diagnosed 1975-1993 under age 15 years. Logistic regression was used to relate risk to incidence of community infections in three prenatal and two postnatal quarters. There was an increased risk of brain/spinal tumours among children exposed around or soon after birth to higher levels of community infections, in particular measles (OR for trend=2.1, 95%CI : 1.3-3.6, P=0.008) and influenza (OR for exposure=3.3, 95%CI : 1.5-7.4, P=0.005). There was some evidence of an association between exposure to infections around and soon after birth and risk of other tumours, but this may have been a chance finding. The findings are consistent with other recent epidemiological studies suggesting brain tumours may be associated with perinatal exposure to infections.
Toni[a]