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USE OF AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDES AND PROSTATE CANCER RISK IN THE AGRICULTURAL HEALTH STUDY COHORT
Citation:
Alavanja, M., C. Samanic, M. Dosemeci, J. H. Lubin, R. Tarone, C. Lynch, C. Knott, K W. Thomas, J. A. Hoppin, J. Barker, J. Coble, D. Sandler, AND A. Blair. USE OF AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDES AND PROSTATE CANCER RISK IN THE AGRICULTURAL HEALTH STUDY COHORT. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY 157(9):800-814, (2003).
Impact/Purpose:
The primary goal of the AHS Pesticide Exposure Study (AHS/PES) is to measure exposure to applied pesticides for a subset of the cohort of private pesticide applicators and to provide data to evaluate exposure algorithms developed for exposure classification in the study cohort.
Description:
The authors examined the relationship between 45 common agricultural pesticides and prostate cancer incidence in a prospective cohort study of 55,332 male pesticide applicators from Iowa and North Carolina with no prior history of prostate cancer. Data were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires completed at enrollment (1993-1997). Cancer incidence was determined through population-based cancer registries from enrollment through December 31,1999. A prostate cancer standardized incidence ratio was computed for the cohort. Odds ratios were computed for individual pesticides and for pesticide use patterns identified by means of factor analysis. A prostate cancer standardized incidence ratio of 1.14 (95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.24) was observed for the Agricultural Health Study cohort. Use of chlorinated pesticides among applicators over 50 years of age and methyl bromide use were significantly associated with prostate cancer risk. Several other pesticides showed a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer among study subjects with a family history of prostate cancer but not among those with no family history. Important family history-pesticide interactions were observed.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of Research and Development collaborated in the research described here. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication.