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Brain Tumor Risk Higher if Born in Winter
Infections, Diet, Toxins, Weather, Hormones Put
Winter Babies at Risk
By
Jeanie Lerche Davis
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
on Tuesday, August 03, 2004
WebMD Medical News
Aug.
3, 2004 -- Winter babies are at higher risk of
developing a brain tumor later in life. Summer
babies seem to be safest, new research shows.
The study, published in the current issue of Neurology,
looks at this phenomenon of birth season and disease.
Study after study has pointed to patterns. Epilepsy
has consistently been found more frequently in
people born from December through March. Schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and narcolepsy
are all linked with winter births. Leukemia, lymphoma,
breast cancer, and testicular cancer have also
shown seasonal patterns.
In the uterus and during infancy, a baby's brain
and spinal cord are highly sensitive to the environment.
That sensitivity, plus the slow development of
nervous system disorders, raises the possibility
that variations in seasonal exposure may influence
the risk of brain tumors in adulthood, writes
lead researcher A.V. Brenner, MD, PhD, an epidemiologist
with the National Cancer Institute.
Brenner's study involved 686 patients in three
large hospitals, all diagnosed with benign brain
tumors. When Brenner and his colleagues matched
their birth dates with those of 799 patients without
brain tumors, they found distinct patterns.
People born in winter -- particularly January
and February -- had the highest risk, while those
born in August and July had the lowest risk.
Handedness also affected the association between
seasons and brain tumor risk. Left-handed and
ambidextrous people born in late fall through
early spring were at particularly high risk of
having brain tumors.
The study builds on evidence that adult disease
can have origins very early in life. However,
it's not clear what factors -- infections, the
mother's diet, environmental toxins, sun exposure,
temperature, weather, and hormones -- are triggering
brain tumor patterns, Brenner writes.
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SOURCE: Brenner, A. Neurology, July 2004: vol
63, pp 276-281.
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