Cancer diagnostic profile in children with structural birth defects: An assessment in 15,000 childhood cancer cases

Background Birth defects are established risk factors for childhood cancer. Nonetheless, cancer epidemiology in children with birth defects is not well characterized. Methods Using data from population‐based registries in 4 US states, this study compared children with cancer but no birth defects (n = 13,111) with children with cancer and 1 or more nonsyndromic birth defects (n = 1616). The objective was to evaluate cancer diagnostic characteristics, including tumor type, age at diagnosis, and stage at diagnosis. Results Compared with the general population of children with cancer, children with birth defects were diagnosed with more embryonal tumors (26.6% vs 18.7%; q