Increased prevalence of malignant diseases in the close neighborhood of children with cancer. (Practical Stuff!).* In adults, about 30 percent of all cancers are thought to be caused by smoking and 30 percent by dietary factors. * Pediatric pediatric /pe·di·at·ric/ (pe?de-at´rik) pertaining to the health of children. pe·di·at·ric adj. Of or relating to pediatrics. cancer, by contrast, has contributed less information about the environmental aspects of carcinogenesis car·ci·no·gen·e·sis n. The production of cancer. carcinogenesis production of cancer. biological carcinogenesis viruses and some parasites are capable of initiating neoplasia. than about its genetic aspects. * Some studies have found a relation between magnetic fields magnetic fields, n.pl the spaces in which magnetic forces are detectable; created by magnetostrictive ultrasonic scalers to cause the tips of instruments such as ultrasonic scalers to vibrate. and the risk of childhood brain tumors and childhood leukemia. * Studies of smoking during pregnancy have shown conflicting results, some finding increased risk of leukemia in the child and others finding almost the opposite. * There is some evidence for a viral or infectious etiology in childhood leukemia as well as in Hodgkin's disease Hodgkin's disease, a type of cancer of the lymphatic system. First identified in 1832 in England by Thomas Hodgkin, it is a type of malignant lymphoma. Incidence peaks in young adults and the elderly. . * The virus hypothesis is based on the assumption of an abnormal response to some common infection. * The following causal environmental factors of childhood cancer have been established: - stilbestrol stil·bes·trol n. DES. stilbestrol a synthetic estrogen used in the treatment of female animals for infertility and bitches for urinary incontinence. during pregnancy causing vaginal adenocarcinoma adenocarcinoma: see neoplasm. in young women, - ionizing radiation i·on·i·zing radiation n. High-energy radiation capable of producing ionization in substances through which it passes. Ionizing radiation , and - certain cytotoxic agents. * The authors of this study also had a clinical impression that cancer occurs more often in the environment of a child with cancer. * Therefore, they investigated whether the prevalence of cancer among children and adults in the neighborhood of children with cancer was higher than the prevalence in the neighborhood of healthy children. * It was found that 13 percent of the children with cancer and six percent of the control children were close neighbors of other children diagnosed with cancer. * Cancer also was more common in circles of acquaintances around the children with cancer than in circles of acquaintances around control children. * The frequency of cancer in the neighborhood or in the circle of acquaintances was significantly greater among older children than among younger children. * These results support the hypothesis that environmental factors can initiate or precipitate cancer in children as well as in adults. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion