Pre-morbid factors in Hodgkin's disease. I. Birth weight and growth pattern from 8 to 14 years of age.

The risk of Hodgkin's disease (HD) in young adults is correlated to height. This association indicates an etiologic factor acting during growth. Our aim was to evaluate the importance of growth pattern as a risk factor in HD. The register of records from the school health service of the Copenhagen Council was scrutinized in order to find Danes with HD born between 1930 and 1950. Whenever possible, three matched controls (comparable in respect to socio-economic status) were selected from the register for each case. The material consisted of 63 cases and 183 controls. Information regarding height, weight and birth weight was obtained from the school health records. The patients were taller than controls at 8, 10, 12 and 14 years of age. The birth weight was available in 33 cases and 99 controls, and was higher in the former (median 3.50 kg) than in the latter (median 3.30 kg) (P less than 0.01). Our findings suggest the existence of either a risk factor associated with rapid growth or a protective factor connected with slow growth, effective even before birth.