Prenatal ambient pesticide exposure and childhood retinoblastoma
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Published on: April 2, 2021
Shiraya Thompson1, Beate Ritz1, Myles Cockburn2
1Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. S, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA.
Insights
Prenatal exposure to certain pesticides near agricultural areas may increase the risk of childhood retinoblastoma. This study identified specific pesticides linked to higher odds of developing this rare eye cancer.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Epidemiology
- Pediatric Oncology
- Toxicology
Background:
- Retinoblastoma is a rare childhood retinal tumor.
- Limited research exists on prenatal pesticide exposure as a risk factor.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between childhood retinoblastoma and prenatal pesticide exposure.
- Examined exposure through residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications.
Main Methods:
- Population-based case-control study in California.
- 335 retinoblastoma cases (ages ≤5) and 123,166 controls.
- Geographic Information System (GIS) used to assess pesticide exposure within 4000m of birth residences.
Main Results:
- Exposure to acephate and bromacil linked to increased risk of unilateral retinoblastoma.
- Acephate, pymetrozine, and kresoxim-methyl associated with overall retinoblastoma risk.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal exposure to ambient pesticides near agricultural fields may contribute to retinoblastoma development.
- Findings highlight potential environmental risk factors for this childhood cancer.
Background:
Retinoblastoma is a rare tumor of the retina, most commonly found in young children. Due to the rarity of this childhood cancer, few studies have been able to examine prenatal pesticide exposure as a risk factor.
Objective:
To examine the relationship between childhood retinoblastoma and prenatal exposure to pesticides through residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications.
Methods:
We conducted a population-based case-control study using cases aged 5 and younger identified from the California Cancer Registry, and controls randomly selected from California birth certificates. Frequency matching cases to controls by age resulted in 221 cases of unilateral retinoblastoma and 114 cases of bilateral retinoblastoma, totaling 335 cases and 123,166 controls. Based on addresses from birth certificates we employed Pesticide Use Reports and land use information within a geographic information system approach to individually assess exposures to specific pesticides within 4000 m of the residence reported on birth certificates. The associations between retinoblastoma (all types combined and stratified by laterality) and individual pesticides were expressed as odds ratios estimates obtained from unconditional logistic regression models including a single pesticide, and from a hierarchical logistic regression model including all pesticides.
Results:
We found that exposures to acephate (OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.20, 2.41) and bromacil (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.07, 3.26) were associated with increased risk for unilateral retinoblastoma. In addition to acephate, we found that pymetrozine (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.00, 2.08) and kresoxim-methyl (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.00, 2.56) were associated with retinoblastoma (all types combined).
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that certain types of prenatal ambient pesticide exposure from residing near agricultural fields may play a role in the development of childhood retinoblastoma.
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