Table 3.
Parental lawn and garden pesticide use during the 2-year period before the child’s birth and occurrence of childhood brain cancer (no. of discordant pairs).a
| Astrocytoma
|
PNET
|
All other types
|
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pesticides | +/− | −/+ | ORb (95% CI) | +/− | −/+ | ORb (95% CI) | +/− | −/+ | ORb (95% CI) |
| Ever used pesticides for gardens and lawnsc | |||||||||
| Insecticides | 52 | 39 | 1.3 (0.9–2.0) | 25 | 23 | 1.1 (0.6–1.9) | 26 | 23 | 1.2 (0.7–2.0) |
| Herbicides | 53 | 27 | 1.9 (1.2–3.0) | 26 | 24 | 1.0 (0.6–1.8) | 25 | 28 | 1.0 (0.6–1.8) |
| Fungicides | 13 | 7 | 1.8 (0.7–4.6) | 8 | 6 | 1.3 (0.5–3.8) | 11 | 5 | 2.6 (0.9–7.6) |
| Father applied pesticides for gardens and lawns | |||||||||
| Insecticides | 28 | 26 | 1.0 (0.6–1.8) | 20 | 19 | 1.0 (0.5–1.9) | 20 | 10 | 2.3 (1.0–5.0) |
| Herbicides | 40 | 20 | 2.0 (1.2–3.4) | 21 | 18 | 1.1 (0.5–2.0) | 15 | 18 | 1.0 (0.5–2.0) |
| Fungicides | 3 | 1 | 3.1 (0.3–30.0) | 4 | 1 | 3.6 (0.4–32.6) | 8 | 3 | 3.3 (0.9–13.0) |
| Mother applied pesticides for gardens and lawns | |||||||||
| Insecticides | 18 | 18 | 1.0 (0.5–1.9) | 6 | 8 | 0.7 (0.3–2.2) | 10 | 12 | 0.9 (0.4–2.2) |
| Herbicides | 13 | 7 | 1.9 (0.7–4.8) | 6 | 7 | 0.8 (0.3–2.5) | 5 | 13 | 0.4 (0.1–1.1) |
| Fungicides | 10 | 6 | 1.7 (0.6–4.8) | 5 | 3 | 1.6 (0.4–6.9) | 9 | 3 | 3.4 (0.9–12.6) |
a
The total numbers of discordant case–control pairs where “case used (+)/control not used (−)” and “case not used (−)/control used (+).”
b
ORs and 95% CIs were calculated by conditional logistic regression for each class of pesticide use (ever vs. never), adjusted for mother’s education level (≤ high school vs. > high school).
c
Pesticide applications by anyone, including mother, father, professionals, and others.