Impact of chemotherapy on the health of babies born to mothers with lymphomas and breast cancer

Aim. To investigate the health status of infants born to mothers with lymphomas and breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy (CT) during pregnancy. Materials and methods. The study comprised 223 newborn infants. Group 1A included 108 offspring of mothers who underwent CT. Group 1B consisted of 52 babies whose mothers did not receive CT. Group 2 comprised 63 babies born to healthy women. Results of follow-up were analyzed in 71 and 29 babies from groups 1A and 1B, respectively. Results. In groups 1A and 1B, 44.4% and 59.6% of infants, respectively, were born preterm (p = 0.051). The high percent of preterm infants was associated with maternal disease activity and the need to start/continue antitumor therapy after childbirth. The leading cause of infant morbidity was bronchopulmonary diseases, which was mainly associated with their prematurity. The rate of low birth weight deliveries (<10th percentile) did not significantly differ between the groups ((p = 0.20). The incidence of congenital malformations and minor developmental anomalies were comparable in the groups (p = 0.676 and p = 0.703) and did not differ from that in the general population. Conclusion. Prematurity is the primary cause of early neonatal morbidity in infants undergoing exposure to maternal CT. Prolonging pregnancy to full-term during CT reduces the incidence of preterm birth, which contributes to lowering infant mortality rates.

pregnancy, breast cancer, lymphomas, chemotherapy, antitumor therapy, newborn infants, prematurity