%0 Journal Article %T Parental occupational exposure to pesticides and the risk of childhood leukemia in Costa Rica %A Monge, Patricia %A Wesseling, Catharina %A Guardado, Jorge %A Lundberg, Ingvar %A Ahlbom, Anders %A Cantor, Kenneth P. %A Weiderpass, Elisabete %A Partanen, Timo %J Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health %D 2007 %8 August 33 %N 4 %@ 0355-3140 %F Monge2007 %X '

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OBJECTIVES ': 'Parental exposure to pesticides and the risk of leukemia in offspring were examined in a population-based case–control study in Costa Rica.

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METHODS ': 'All cases of childhood leukemia (N=334), in 1995–2000, were identified at the Cancer Registry and the Children’s Hospital. Population controls (N=579) were drawn from the National Birth Registry. Interviews of parents were conducted using conventional and icon-based calendar forms. An exposure model was constructed for 25 pesticides in five time periods.

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RESULTS ': 'Mothers’ exposures to any pesticides during the year before conception and during the first and second trimesters were associated with the risk [odds ratio (OR) 2.4, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.0–5.9; OR 22, 95% CI 2.8–171.5; OR 4.5, 95% CI 1.4–14.7, respectively] and during anytime (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0–4.8). An association was found for fathers’ exposures to any pesticides during the second trimester (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0–2.3). An increased risk with respect to organophosphates was found for mothers during the first trimester (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.0–12.2) and for fathers during the year before conception and the first trimester (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0–2.2 and OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0–2.6, respectively), and benzimidazoles during the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0–4.4; OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0–5.0; OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0–5.2, respectively). There was a suggestion of an exposure–response gradient for fathers as regards picloram, benomyl, and paraquat. Age at diagnosis was positively associated with fathers’ exposures and inversely associated with mothers’ exposures.

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CONCLUSIONS ': 'The results suggest that parental exposure to certain pesticides may increase the risk of leukemia in offspring.

%K cancer epidemiology %K case–control study %K child %K childhood cancer %K childhood leukemia %K Costa Rica %K developing country %K fetal exposure %K parental occupational exposure %K pesticide %K pregnancy %K reproductive effect %K risk %K tropics %R 10.5271/sjweh.1146 %U https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=1146 %U https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.1146 %P 293-303