Case-control studies of relation between childhood cancer and neonatal vitamin K administration

Abstract

The lack of consistency between the various studies so far published, including this one, and the low relative risks found in most of them suggest that the risk, if any, attributable to the use of vitamin K cannot be large, but the possibility that there is some risk cannot be excluded. A comparison of the predicted consequences of various policies shows that even a 10% increase would imply that prophylaxis using the commonly recommended 1 mg intramuscular dose should be restricted to babies at particularly high risk of vitamin K deficiency bleeding; alternatively a lower dose might be given to a larger proportion of those at risk.