New Delhi: A new study has found that children born by planned caesarean section (C-section) have a higher risk of developing leukemia later in life. The risk is higher compared to those born by emergency C-section.
The study was done by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet. It was published in The International Journal of Cancer. Researchers studied data from about 25 lakh children born in Sweden between 1982-1989 and 1999-2015.
Out of these, more than 3.75 lakh children (15.5%) were born through C-section. Among them, 1,495 later developed leukaemia. The study focused on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common type of childhood leukaemia.
Children born by any type of C-section were seven per cent more likely to develop ALL than those born vaginally. But the risk was even higher for planned C-sections.
Compared to emergency C-sections, planned C-sections showed a 21 per cent higher risk of ALL.
“We observed an increased (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) risk among children delivered by planned C-section (of 21 per cent),” the authors wrote.
Researchers said the difference may be due to how the baby is exposed during birth. Emergency C-sections usually begin as vaginal deliveries. The baby is exposed to vaginal bacteria and some birth-related stress. In planned C-sections, this exposure does not happen.
This difference may affect the baby's immune system, which could increase the risk of certain diseases later.