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| |  Is Vitamin K Linked To Childhood Cancer? LONDON, ENGLAND -- January 16, 1998 -- The issue of whether injection of vitamin K (which promotes blood clotting) in newly-born children increases the risk of childhood leukemia and other cancers remains unsolved. A cluster of papers in this week’s British Medical Journal, investigate this link which was first suggested in the early 1990s. Dr. Patricia McKinney, principal researcher, information and statistics division, Common Services Agency for the National Health Service in Scotland, and colleagues report on a Scottish study which shows no statistically significant associations with vitamin K. Two papers by Dr. Gerald Draper, director, Childhood Cancer Research Group, Oxford and colleagues provide evidence against an effect of vitamin K on cancers, but find that there is the possibility of an association with leukemia. However, it is possible that this may be explained by the additional finding in this study of an association between abnormal delivery and leukemia, since most babies born by forceps or caesarian section would receive vitamin K. Dr. Louise Parker, senior lecturer in epidemiology, Sir James Spence Institute of Child Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Royal Victoria Infirmary, and colleagues found that there was no association between vitamin K and non-leukemia malignant disease, but the authors were unable to exclude the possibility of a link with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (particularly in children age one to six years). The researchers conclude that in light of the lingering doubt over the safety of intramuscular vitamin K, it is important that oral supplements are considered as an alternative, where possible.
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