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Parental occupational exposure and risk of childhood central nervous system tumors: a pooled analysis of case–control studies from Germany, France, and the UK

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the risk of childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumors associated with parental occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), diesel motor exhaust (DME), asbestos, crystalline silica, and metals, which are established carcinogens in adults.

Methods

We pooled data from three population-based case–control studies from Germany, France, and the UK. Cases were children aged up to 15 years and diagnosed with CNS tumor, and controls were frequency-matched by age and sex. Socio-demographic data and parental occupation around conception/pregnancy and at diagnosis were collected using standardized interviews, face-to-face or by telephone. A general population job-exposure matrix was used to assign a level of exposure to each job. Logistic regression models were fitted to compute odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals.

Results

Our study included 1,361 cases of CNS tumors and 5,500 controls. Paternal exposure to PAH, asbestos, and metals around conception was associated with an increased moderate risk of CNS tumors, although statistically non-significant. The association with exposure to asbestos around conception and diagnosis was stronger when fathers were exposed to high levels. Paternal exposure to DME and silica, and maternal exposure to PAH, DME, asbestos, silica, and metals, were not associated with an increased risk of CNS tumors.

Conclusion

Our large pooled study showed weak evidence of a modest association between paternal occupational exposure to PAH and CNS tumor risk. Our findings need further exploration in the future studies.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Mrs Véronique Luzon from IARC for her work in the data management. No special financial support was available for the pooling project. Catherine Huoi was supported by the Hospices Civils de Lyon, and the remaining co-authors contributed from their regular positions. The original case–control studies were supported as follows; Germany: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Preservation and Nuclear Safety; France: INSERM, the Fondation de France, the Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (ARC), the Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé (AFSSAPS), the Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’Environnement et du Travail (AFSSET), the association Cent pour sang la vie, the Institut National du Cancer (INCa), the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), and Cancéropôle Ile de France); UK: Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. The development of the DOM–JEM was supported by internal funding provided by the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences. The work in this paper by Helen Bailey was undertaken during the tenure of a postdoctoral fellowship from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, partially supported by the European Commission FP7 Marie Curie Actions—People co-funding of regional, national, and international programmes (COFUND).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon Cedex 08, France

    Catherine Huoi, Ann Olsson, Helen D. Bailey & Joachim Schüz

  2. The Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ann Olsson

  3. Epidemiology and Cancer Statistics Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK

    Tracy Lightfoot & Eve Roman

  4. U754, INSERM, Villejuif, France

    Jacqueline Clavel & Brigitte Lacour

  5. UMR-S754, IFR69, University of Paris-Sud, Villejuif, France

    Jacqueline Clavel & Brigitte Lacour

  6. National Registry of Childhood Solid Tumors, Nancy, France

    Brigitte Lacour

  7. German Childhood Cancer Registry, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Peter Kaatsch

  8. Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hans Kromhout, Roel Vermeulen & Susan Peters

  9. School of Public Health, Occupational Respiratory Epidemiology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    Susan Peters

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  1. Catherine Huoi
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  2. Ann Olsson
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  3. Tracy Lightfoot
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  4. Eve Roman
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  10. Susan Peters
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  11. Helen D. Bailey
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Correspondence to Ann Olsson.

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Huoi, C., Olsson, A., Lightfoot, T. et al. Parental occupational exposure and risk of childhood central nervous system tumors: a pooled analysis of case–control studies from Germany, France, and the UK. Cancer Causes Control 25, 1603–1613 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0465-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0465-4

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