With the support from World Cancer Research Fund/Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds, I am investigating the overlooked links between early life infections and adult cancer risk using unique Danish data resources. This novel research project will yield insights into whether severe acute infections early in life may protect against development of cancer in adulthood. – Dr Julie Aarestrup
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Results
The researchers found that people who were hospitalized with an acute infection during the first 2 years of life had a lower risk of being diagnosed with early-onset cancer later in life than people who were not hospitalized. The risk of cancer did not change depending on whether a person was hospitalised one or more times with an infection early in life.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that infections in the first two years of life may have a role in reducing the risk of cancer. However, more studies are needed to investigate these associations in other settings as well as examinations of specific infection types and specific cancer forms.
Impact
These findings raise the intriguing possibility that early life infections, which are common and a leading cause of hospitalisation, may play a role in cancer aetiology.
Grant publication
Pedersen, Dorthe C., et al. Associations between hospitalized infections in the first 24 months of life and risk of cancer in early-mid adulthood. Cancer Epidemiology, vol. 97, 2025.
