Planned C-Section May Be Tied to Increased Risk for Leukemia in Offspring

MONDAY, July 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Children born by planned cesarean section (CS) may have an elevated risk for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is driven by B-cell precursor ALL, according to a study published online July 4 in the International Journal of Cancer.

Christina-Evmorfia Kampitsi, Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues examined the relationship between mode of delivery and ALL in Swedish children in a study involving all 2,442,330 children born in Sweden between 1982 to 1989 and 1999 to 2014, when comprehensive information on delivery mode was available.

The researchers found that the risk for ALL was increased among children delivered by planned CS (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.96 to 1.54), which was driven by B-cell precursor ALL (hazard ratio, 1.29; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.67). Among boys and at peak ages of ALL incidence (5 years and younger), the associations were concentrated, and they persisted after adjustment for potential confounding variables, including maternal and perinatal factors. No association was seen for unplanned CS with an increased risk for childhood ALL.

“C-sections are an important and often life-saving part of obstetric care. We don”t want mothers to feel anxious about medically indicated C-sections,” Kampitsi said in a statement. “But when this result is combined with other study results showing that the risk of later asthma, allergies, or type 1 diabetes increases in children born by planned C-section, there is reason to discuss C-sections that are not medically indicated.”

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