Parental smoking,maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the risk of neuroblastoma in children. A pooled analysis of the ESCALE and ESTELLE French studies

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extra-cranial tumour in children. Little is known about the aetiology of NB. The early age at onset and the embryonic nature suggest a role for perinatal exposures. We conducted a pooled analysis of two French national population-based case–control studies to explore whether there was an association between parental smoking and alcohol consumption and the risk of NB. The mothers of 357 NB cases and 1,783 controls from general population, frequency matched by age and sex, were interviewed on demographic, socioeconomic and perinatal characteristics, maternal reproductive story, and life-style and childhood environment. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. A meta-analysis of our findings with those of previous studies was also conducted. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was slightly more often reported for the cases (24.1%) than for the controls (19.7%) (OR 1.3 [95% CI 0.9–1.7]; summary OR from meta-analysis 1.1 [95% CI 1.0–1.3]. Paternal smoking in the year before child's birth were not associated with NB as independent exposure (OR 1.1 [95% CI 0.9–1.4] but the association was stronger when both parents reported having smoked during pregnancy (OR 1.5 [95% CI 1.1–2.1]. No association was observed with maternal alcohol intake during pregnancy (OR 1.0 [95% CI 0.8–1.4], summary OR from meta-analysis 1.0 [95% CI 0.9–1.2]. Our findings provide some evidence of an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and NB and add another reason to recommend that women refrain from smoking during pregnancy.     

Bypass Surgery or Stenting for Left Main Coronary Artery Disease in Patients With Diabetes

Background

The randomized EXCEL (Evaluation of XIENCE versus Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery for Effectiveness of Left Main Revascularization) trial reported a similar rate of the 3-year composite primary endpoint of death, myocardial infarction (MI), or stroke in patients with left main coronary artery disease (LMCAD) and site-assessed low or intermediate SYNTAX scores treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Whether these results are consistent in high-risk patients with diabetes, who have fared relatively better with CABG in most prior trials, is unknown.

Evaluating same-source bias in the association between neighbourhood characteristics and depression in a community sample from Toronto,Canada

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology - It is common in prior studies of the influence of neighbourhood characteristics on mental health to use participant-assessed neighbourhood...