Acute Myeloid Leukemia Risk Factors ID'd in Texas Adults

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Risk Factors ID'd in Texas Adults

(HealthDay News) -- Solvent exposure, smoking, and obesity are significant risk factors for de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in Texas, according to a study published online Feb. 1 in Cancer.

To investigate associations between lifestyle characteristics and AML risk, Sara S. Strom, Ph.D., of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues used questionnaires to collect demographic and occupational characteristics on 638 adults with de novo AML and 636 matched controls.

The researchers found that AML risk was significantly increased among men exposed to low or moderate/high levels of occupational solvents (odds ratio [OR], 2.87 and 4.13, respectively), or men who were heavy smokers (≥30 pack-years; OR, 1.86). For women, there was a significantly increased risk of AML with exposure to low or moderate/high levels of solvent (OR, 2.73 and 3.90, respectively), or for those who were obese (OR 1.62). Obesity correlated with a significantly increased risk of AML with recurrent cytogenetic abnormalities (RCA) (OR, 3.15). Solvent exposure at low or moderate/high levels correlated with a significantly increased risk of AML-RCA or AML with multilineage dysplasia (low level OR, 4.11 and 2.54, respectively, and moderate/high level OR, 5.13 and 3.02, respectively). There was a joint effect of smoking and solvent exposure, with the highest risk seen for smokers who were exposed to solvents (OR, 4.51).

"These findings highlight the need for multicenter collaborations to identify the epidemiologic and genetic risk factors associated with AML development to better understand the complexity of AML etiology and the underlying heterogeneity of the disease," the authors write.

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