Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change servers in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7126 Volume 316 Press Releases Saturday 17 January 1998 Embargoed: 00.01 hrs 16 January 1998 UK time Is vitamin K linked to childhood cancer? Racial discrimination in consultant distinction award scheme Severe sexual abuse in children can lead to depression in adult women Quilts increase risk of cot death for babies who sleep on their back Is vitamin K linked to childhood cancer? (Case-control study of childhood leukaemia and cancer in Scotland: findings for neonatal intramuscular vitamin K) See Paper (abstract only), p 173 (Case-control studies of relation between childhood cancer and neonatal vitamin K administration) See Paper (abstract only), p 178 (Ecological studies of relation between hospital policies on neonatal vitamin K administration and subsequent occurrence of childhood cancer) See Paper (abstract only), p 184 (Neonatal vitamin K administration and childhood cancer in the north of England) See Paper (abstract only), p 189 The issue of whether injection of vitamin K (which promotes blood clotting) in newly born children increases the risk of childhood leukaemia and other cancers, remains unsolved. A cluster of papers in this week's BMJ, investigate this link which was first suggested in the early 1990s. McKinney et al report on a Scottish study which shows no statistically significant associations with vitamin K. Two papers by Passmore/Draper et al provide evidence against an effect of vitamin K on cancers, but find that there is the possibility of an association with leukaemia. However, it is possible that this may be explained by the additional finding in this study of an association between abnormal delivery and leukaemia, since most babies born by forceps or caesarian section would receive vitamin K. Parker et al found that there was no association between vitamin K and non-leukaemia malignant disease, but the authors were unable to exclude the possibility of a link with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (particularly in children age one to six years). Parker et al 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. Contact: Dr Patricia McKinney, Principal Researcher, Information and Statistics Division, Common Services Agency for the National Health Service in Scotland tel: 0131 551 8067 fax: 0131 551 2077 email: p.a.mckinney@leeds.ac.uk Dr Gerald Draper, Director, Childhood Cancer Research Group, Oxford tel: 01865 310030 fax: 01865 514254 email: gjd@ccrg.ox.ac.uk Dr Louise Parker, Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology, Sir James Spence Institute of Child Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Royal Victoria Infirmary tel: 0191 202 3023 fax: 0191 202 3060 email: Louise.Parker@ncl.ac.uk Racial discrimination in consultant distinction award scheme (Racial discrimination in the allocation of distinction awards. Analysis of list of award holders by type of award, specialty and region) The distinction award scheme for consultants has been plagued by controversy ever since its inception when the NHS was created. Although the system of allocation is now more open and subject to public scrutiny, there are still large differences in the allocation of awards by region, specialty and gender. In this week's BMJ Esmail and Everington identify a further problem - that there are also large differences in the allocation of awards by racial group. By analysing the surnames of award recipients to ascertain ethnicity, the authors found that white consultants were three times as likely to get an award as non-white consultants. Contact: Dr Sam Everington & Dr Aneez Esmail, Visiting Professor of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, c/o Dr Sam Everington tel: (w) 0171 265 9969 (h) 0181 981 6996 pager: 01426 147927 fax: 0171 702 7024 Severe sexual abuse in children can lead to depression in adult women (Relation between sexual abuse in childhood and adult depression: case-control study) See Paper (abstract only), p 189 Research into the psychological consequences of sexual abuse in childhood has focused mainly on the disturbances that arise shortly after the abusive experience; longer term effects have proved more difficult to investigate. In this week's BMJ, Cheasty et al find that in a study of over 1,100 women, those who had been severely sexually abused in childhood (penetration or attempted penetration) are likely to suffer from depression in adult life. However, women who experienced more minor sexual abuse were no more likely to be depressed than those with no history of sexual abuse. Contact: Dr Marese Cheasty, Senior Registrar in Psychiatry, St Patrick's Hospital, James's Street, Dublin tel: 00 353 1209 4884 fax: 00 353 1209 4882 email: dpn@iol.ie Quilts increase risk of cot death for babies who sleep on their back (Association between use of a quilt and sudden infant death syndrome: case-control study) Duvets and quilts should not be used for babies under the age of a year because of the risk of obstructing their faces. This is particularly important for babies who sleep on their backs or their side. Once a baby reaches 16 weeks they will be able to pull bed clothes over their face and may move their sleeping position. The authors conducted a case control study involving 93 per cent of the families of 107 Tasmanian infants who died from sudden infant death syndrome between 1 October 1988 and 31 December 1995. Findings were adjusted to take account of other factors such as maternal smoking, heating in the bedroom, infant illness. Contact: Dr Anne-Louise Ponsonby, Menzies Centre for Population Health Research, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-23, Hobart, Australia 7001. tel: 00 61 3 6226 7700 fax: 00 61 3 6226 7704 Embargo: 00.01 hrs Friday 17 January 1998 Please contact Public Affairs Division for the text of the paper & the authors for further comment For further information, please contact: Jill Shepherd on 0171 383 6254 Public Affairs Division, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP After 6pm & at weekends: 0181 651 5130, 0181 241 6386, 0181 674 6294, 0171 727 2897, 0181 997 3653 Or fax requests to Public Affairs Division, BMA on 0171 383 6403. If you currently receive your British Medical Journal press release by mail and you would like it faxed to you please telephone (0)171 383 6123, Fax: (0)171 554 6123 or E-mail: LRiviere@mail.bma.org.uk When dialling the UK from abroad, remember to delete the first zero from the local area code, eg, (00 44) 171... 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