Authors:
Bailey HD, Infante-Rivard C, Metayer C, Clavel J, Lightfoot T, Kaatsch P, … Milne E et al.
Authors notes:
International Journal of Cancer. 2015;137(11):2644-2663
Keywords:
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, Case-control study, Childhood, Pesticide, Pooled analysis
Abstract:
Some previous studies have suggested that home pesticide exposure before birth and during a child's early years may increase the risk of childhood leukemia.
To further investigate this, we pooled individual level data from 12 case-control studies in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.
Exposure data were harmonized into compatible formats.
Pooled analyses were undertaken using multivariable unconditional logistic regression.
The odds ratio (ORs) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) associated with any pesticide exposure shortly before conception, during pregnancy and after birth were 1.39, 1.43 and 1.36, respectively.
Corresponding ORs for risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were 1.49, 1.55 and 1.08, respectively.
There was little difference by type of pesticide used.
The relative similarity in ORs between leukemia types, time periods and pesticide types may be explained by similar exposure patterns and effects across the time periods in ALL and AML, participants' exposure to multiple pesticides, or recall bias.
Although some recall bias is likely, until a better study design can be found to investigate the associations between home pesticide use and childhood leukemia in an equally large sample, it would appear prudent to limit the use of home pesticides before and during pregnancy, and during childhood.