Title:Main Nutritional and Environmental Risk Factors in Children with Leukemia from a Public Hospital of the State of Guanajuato, Mexico
Volume: 15
Issue: 3
Author(s): Rebeca Monroy-Torres*, Daniela Ibarra-Miranda, Jaime Naves Sánchez and Angela Castillo-Chávez
Affiliation:
- Laboratorio de Nutricion Ambiental y Seguridad Alimentaria, Departamento de Medicina y Nutricion, Campus Leon, Universidad de Guanajuato, Leon,Mexico
Keywords:
Leukemia, exclusive breastfeeding, arsenic, diet, smoking, malignant tumor.
Abstract: Introduction: The prevalence of leukemia in children aged under 19 years continues to
increase. Nutritional and environmental factors have been described as causes of their development,
and maternal breastfeeding, birth weight, exposure to cow’s milk or to contaminants before
1 year of age, and smoking have been studied.
Objective: To analyze the main nutritional and environmental risk factors in children with Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in a public hospital in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Methods: Analytical and cross-sectional study on 30 children under 18 years of age, with a confirmed
diagnosis of ALL in a public hospital in Guanajuato, Mexico. With the signed informed
consent of the children’s parents, a questionnaire was applied that collected and in which nutritional
risk factors (weeks of gestation and birth weight, breastfeeding, exposure to cow’s milk)
and environmental factors (smoking and exposure to arsenic) were evaluated. The frequencies and
Odds Ratios (OR) of the main nutritional and environmental risk factors were obtained.
Results: Mean age was 8 ± 4 years with 38 ± 1 weeks of gestation, with a birth weight of 3,200 g
(range, 2,500-4,800 g). Fifty percent of the children consumed cow’s milk during their first year
of life (40% before 6 months of age); 33.3% received maternal milk for ≤6 months and 63% of the
parents had a positive smoking habit, with 66.6% of the participants living in cities with arsenic
levels falling outside of the norm.
Conclusion: The main nutritional and environmental risk factors found were early complementary
feeding, cow’s milk prior to 1 year of age, a duration of breastfeeding of fewer than 6 months,
birth weight of >3,500 g, a positive smoking habit in the children’s parents, as well as exposure to
arsenic in drinking water. Identification of these risk factors could constitute an input for integrating
novel prevention alternatives and the nutritional management of leukemia.