Research Article
Advancing Parental Age and Risk of Solid Tumors in Children:
A Case-Control Study in Peru
Ligia Rios , Liliana Vásquez , Mónica Oscanoa, Iván Maza , and Jenny Gerónimo
Pediatric Oncology Unit, Edgardo Rebagliati Martins Hospital, 490 Domingo Cueto Avenue, Lima 11, Peru
Correspondence should be addressed to Ligia Rios; literly@hotmail.com
Received 20 November 2017; Revised 6 March 2018; Accepted 20 May 2018; Published 12 June 2018
Academic Editor: Tomas R. Chauncey
Copyright © 2018 Ligia Rios et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Background. Te causes of childhood cancer are not well known, but the advanced age of the parents has been suggested as a risk
factor for childhood cancer in several observational studies. In this study, we examine a possible link between parental age and
childhood solid tumors. Methods. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study (310 cases and 620 controls, matched by age
and gender) at Rebagliati Hospital, Lima, Peru. Odd ratio was used to compare categories of advancing maternal and paternal age
with and without adjusting for possible confounding factors were calculated. Results. Te risk of childhood retinoblastoma was
signifcantly higher among children of mothers aged> 35 years (adjusted OR 1.21; 95% CI, 1.09-6.08) and fathers aged> 35 years
(OR 1.17; 1.01-16.33). A signifcant trend with increasing mother's age (p = 0.037) and father's age (p = 0.005) was found. Tere
were more risks to development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (p = 0.047) and gonadal germ cell tumors (p = 0.04) for advanced
paternal age. Tere was a strong protective efect of increasing parity on risk of solid tumors in children (p=0.0015). Conclusion.
Our results suggest that advanced parental age is associated with the risk for the development of retinoblastoma. Advanced paternal
age increases the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and gonadal germ cell tumor. Te higher the order of birth of the children, the
less the chance of developing any neoplasm.
1. Introduction
Although the childhood cancer is a rare disease, during the
last years, appearance of children’s cancer had a higher inci-
dence rate, afecting approximately one in 435 children under
age 15 years [1]. Several associated factors have been described
in its development, like biological aspects (chromoso-
mal anomalies, immunological alterations), environmental
aspects (exposure to radiation, viral infections, socioeco-
nomic status, and parental occupation), maternal aspects
(breastfeeding, the mother’s consumption levels of alcohol or
tobacco, nutritional supplements [2–4]), and familial features
(family history of cancer, advance maternal and/or paternal
age, and number of previous siblings); however the etiology
for the most of childhood cancer is still unknown.
Family structures have changed in relation to past gen-
erations since nowadays, when maternity/paternity occurs,
advancing maternal or paternal age and a lower number of
children are also more likely to occur. Additionally, advanced
maternal age has been positively linked with higher risk of
having a child with Down syndrome, among other congenital
disorders, which in turn has a higher incidence of acute
myeloid and lymphoid leukaemia [5]. Advanced paternal age
(as a factor independent of maternal age) could mean risk of
disorders associated germ cell mutation [6].
Te link between advanced maternal and paternal age
and a higher incidence of the appearance of children’s cancer
has been revealed in studies conducted among patients with
leukaemia [7–9], lymphomas, brain tumors [10], germ cell
tumors, and malignant neoplasms in general [11–13] even
though, in many other studies, such link has not been
corroborated with consistent results [14–18]. Likewise, some
studies show an increase in the risk of childhood cancer in the
frst child [13, 14, 19] although, in many others, contradictory
fndings have been made [7, 20].
To date, it has not been made clear if advanced parental
age is linked with higher risk of children’s cancer; hence, the
present study aims to determine whether advancing parental
age is associated with an increased risk of childhood cancer
in ofspring.
Hindawi
Journal of Oncology
Volume 2018, Article ID 3924635, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3924635