[Association between parental occupational exposure and childhood malignancy. A review of epidemiological studies]

The question whether occupational exposure of parents to chemicals, electromagnetism and radiation causes malignant disease in their offspring has gained much interest. The findings to date, however, have been conflicting perhaps due to differences in the methods employed in these studies. A review was made on 16 case-control epidemiological studies. In 11 studies significant relation was observed between malignant tumor (leukemia, brain tumor and others) and occupational exposure to hydrocarbons, spray paint or other chemicals, ionizing radiation and electromagnetism. Conversely, no association was observed in five studies, in which different populations, different techniques, and different control groups were employed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of occupational exposure of the parents to chemicals and other agents in the development of malignant tumors in their offspring in relation to the employed epidemiological methodology.