Objective: Researchers have suggested an inverse association between breast-feeding and risk of childhood cancer. We investigated the association between breast-feeding and neuroblastoma in a large case-control study in the United States and Canada.
Methods: Maternal reports of breast-feeding were compared among 393 children six months or older who had neuroblastoma and were identified through the Children's Cancer Group and the Pediatric Oncology Group and 376 age-matched controls identified by random-digit telephone dialing in a telephone interview case-control study.
Results: Children with neuroblastoma were less likely to have breast-fed than control children (odds ratio (OR) = 0.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.5-0.9). The association between breast-feeding and neuroblastoma increased with breast-feeding duration (0-3 months OR = 0.7, CI = 0.4-1.0; 13+ months OR = 0.5, CI = 0.3-0.9).
Conclusion: Breast-feeding was inversely associated with neuroblastoma and should be encouraged among healthy mothers. Additional research on possible mechanisms of this association may be warranted.