PEDIATRICS Vol. 33 No. 4 April 1964, pp. 587-589
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Sex Ratio of Children Born of Leukemic Mothers

JOSEPH F. FRAUMENI JR. M.D.1

1 Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

Previous report of a marked shift in the sex ratio of children born of mothers with acute leukemia suggested a potential clue to genetic changes in leukemia. In the study reported here, an exhaustive review of the world literature since 1930 on leukemia and pregnancy revealed that 24 males and 32 females were born alive to mothers suffering from acute leukemia, while 37 males and 28 females occurred among the liveborn offspring of mothers with chronic leukemia. These differences were not statistically significant. Within each series, the small numbers of male and female infants reported dead at birth were about equal. Since the deficiency of male live births among offspring of mothers with acute leukemia was restricted to the myeloid form, additional sex ratio studies appear indicated. The results of this study and a review of the literature reveal little, if any, evidence of a maternal-fetal transmission of leukemia.