Do female adolescent and young adult (ages 15 to 39) survivors of cancer have more adverse birth outcomes than women without a cancer diagnosis?
A new article published online by JAMA Oncology from Hazel B. Nichols, Ph.D., Chelsea Anderson, M.P.H., and coauthors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used a data linkage between the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry and state birth certificate files to examine selected birth outcomes. The study included 2,598 births to female adolescent and young adult cancer survivors and 12,990 births to women without a cancer diagnosis for comparison.
The results suggest an increased risk of preterm birth and low-birth weight among births to female adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. There was also a slight increase in the likelihood of cesarean births. These outcomes appeared to be more pronounced among births to mothers diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy, with a more modest increase among those women with longer intervals between cancer diagnosis and the birth of a child, according to the article.
"Our findings may inform the preconception and prenatal counseling of AYA [adolescent and young adult] cancer survivors and suggest the need for additional surveillance of pregnancies in this population," the article concludes. For more details and to read the full study, please visit the For The Media website.
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(JAMA Oncol. Published online March 23, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.0029; available pre-embargo at the For The Media website.)
Editor's Note: The article contains conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Related audio material: An author audio interview is available for preview on the For The Media website. The podcast will be live when the embargo lifts on the JAMA Oncology website.
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Journal
JAMA Oncology