WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – Women who take supplemental folate during pregnancy may be protecting their children from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Australian researchers report in The Lancet for December 8.
Dr. Judith R. Thompson from the Cancer Foundation of Western Australia in West Perth, and colleagues, collected data from a referral pediatric cancer center for 83 children diagnosed with common ALL. These data were compared with those for 166 age- and sex-matched controls who were recruited through a postal survey.
Analysis of interviews with mothers and questionnaires completed by fathers revealed "a protective association between iron or folate supplementation in pregnancy and risk of common ALL" (odds ratio 0.37, p = 0.001), Dr. Thompson's group reports. The odds ratio for iron alone was 0.75, they add.
Additional analysis indicated that the protective effect of folate with or without iron varied very little according to the time the supplement was first taken or duration of use. The protective effects of folate did not change after the investigators adjusted for potential confounders.
"Our results, though unexpected, suggest that folate supplementation in pregnancy reduces the risk of common ALL in the child," Dr. Thompson said in a journal statement.
Lancet 2001;358:1935-1940.
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