Childhood cancer and parental use of alcohol and tobacco

Reported consumptions of alcohol and tobacco for the parents of 1641 children who died with cancer in England and Wales during the period 1977 to 1981 were compared with similar information for the parents of 1641 control subjects. Consumption of alcohol by fathers was not associated with an increased risk of childhood cancer (relative risk (RR) = 1.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.86 to 1.28), but for daily consumption of cigarettes by fathers there was a statistically significant positive trend (P < 0.001). For mothers, consumption of cigarettes was not shown to be associated with an increased risk and consumption of alcohol was associated with a relatively low cancer risk (RR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.70 to 0.96). Relations between maternal consumption of cigarettes and birth weights suggested that the smoking data were equally reliable for case patients and control subjects.