Vidart d'Egurbide Bagazgoïtia, Nicolas, Bailey, Helen, Orsi, Laurent, Lacour, Brigitte, Guerrini-Rousseau, Léa, Bertozzi, Anne-Isabelle, Leblond, Pierre, Faure-Conter, Cécile, Pellier, Isabelle, Freycon, Claire, Doz, François, Puget, Stéphanie, Ducassou, Stephane, Clavel, Jacqueline, Equipe 7 : EPICEA - Epidémiologie des cancers de l'enfant et de l'adolescent (CRESS - U1153), Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Centre de Recherche Épidémiologie et Statistique Sorbonne Paris Cité (CRESS (U1153 / UMR_A_1125 / UMR_S_1153)), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Registre National des Tumeurs Solides de l'Enfant (RNTSE), Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Nancy (CHRU Nancy)-Cancéropôle du Grand Est, Département de cancérologie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent [Gustave Roussy], Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR), Oscar Lambret Comprehensive Cancer Center, Centre Léon Bérard [Lyon], Innate Immunity and Immunotherapy (CRCINA-ÉQUIPE 7), Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie et Immunologie Nantes-Angers (CRCINA), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Nantes - UFR de Médecine et des Techniques Médicales (UFR MEDECINE), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Centre hospitalier universitaire de Nantes (CHU Nantes)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université d'Angers (UA)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Nantes - UFR de Médecine et des Techniques Médicales (UFR MEDECINE), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Centre hospitalier universitaire de Nantes (CHU Nantes)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université d'Angers (UA), Université Grenoble Alpes - UFR Médecine (UGA UFRM), Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019] (UGA [2016-2019]), Institut Curie [Paris], PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, CHU de Bordeaux Pellegrin [Bordeaux], Centre de Recherche Épidémiologie et Statistique Sorbonne Paris Cité (CRESS (U1153 / UMR_A_1125 / UMR_S_1153)), and Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)
International audience; Some previous epidemiological studies have suggested that pesticide exposure during pregnancy may have a possible role in the development of childhood brain tumors (CBT). We pooled data from two French national population-based, case-control studies to investigate the association between maternal residential use of pesticides during pregnancy and the risk of CBT. The mothers of 437 CBT cases and 3,102 controls aged under 15 years who resided in France at diagnosis/interview, frequency-matched by age and gender, answered a structured telephone interview conducted by trained interviewers. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). CBT was significantly associated with the maternal home use of pesticides during pregnancy (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.8) and, more specifically, with insecticide (OR 1.4, 1.2-1.8). We could not draw any conclusions about herbicides and/or fungicides because few women used them during pregnancy and most of these mothers also used insecticides. Although potential recall bias cannot be excluded, our findings of this pooled analysis support the hypothesis that residential maternal use of pesticides during pregnancy and particularly insecticides may increase the risk of CBT. Future investigations to verify these findings and to explore for CBT subtypes and dose-response are necessary to have a better understanding of the possible role of pesticides in etiology of CBT.