This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Risk factors for ALL

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The exact pathogenetic events responsible for the development of ALL are unknown.

But the following factors have been associated with an increased risk of developing ALL:

  • environmental factors
    • prenatal exposure to X-rays
      • 1.5 fold increase in risk was observed in diagnostic X-ray exposure in uteri
      • nowadays this is not significant since there are fewer x rays carried out prenatally and even when carried out there is increased shielding, and lower radiation levels
  • postnatal exposure to high doses of radiation
    • therapeutic radiation was previously used for conditions such as tinea capitis and thymus enlargement (1,2)
  • genetic conditions
    • a higher incidence of ALL is observed amongst monozygotic and dizygotic twins of ALL patients (3)
    • Down syndrome
      • around one half to two thirds of cases of acute leukaemia in children with Down syndrome are ALL
    • increased occurrence of ALL is also seen in other genetic conditions such as neurofibromatosis, Shwachman syndrome, Bloom syndrome and ataxia telangiectasia (2)
  • infection
    • three hypothesis regarding infectious aetiology are: exposure in utero or around the time of birth, delayed exposure beyond the first year of life to common infections and unusual population mixingo breast feeding and day care attendance in the first year of life seems to have a protective effect (4)

There have been conflicting or isolated reports on the following factors which are thought to increase the risk of the disease:

  • socioeconomic factors - affluent societies, and in urban areas (5)
  • parental occupation
  • maternal reproductive history
  • parental tobacco or alcohol use
  • maternal diet and prenatal vitamin use
  • exposure to pesticides or solvents
  • exposure to the highest levels of residential, power-frequency magnetic fields (6)

Reference:


Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.