Parental occupation and childhood germ cell tumors: a case–control study in Denmark, 1968–2016

Purpose To examine associations between parental occupation and childhood germ cell tumors (GCTs) in offspring while distinguishing by common histologic subtype (i.e., yolk sac tumor and teratoma). Methods This population-based case–control study included childhood GCT cases in Denmark diagnosed 1968–2015 ( Results Overall, 178 childhood GCT cases (50 yolk sac tumors; 65 teratomas) and 4,355 controls were included for analysis. Maternal employment in education during pregnancy was associated with offspring GCTs (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.23–4.90), especially yolk sac tumors (OR 5.27, 95% CI 1.94–14.28). High levels of both maternal and paternal occupational social contact were also associated with offspring yolk sac tumors across all exposure periods (ORs 2.30–4.63). No signals were observed for paternal occupational solvent exposure, while imprecise associations were estimated for maternal exposure (e.g., dichloromethane exposure during pregnancy, OR 1.51, 95% CI 0.77–2.95). Conclusion Our findings suggest that parental occupation is associated with offspring GCTs, with most consistent evidence supporting an association between maternal employment in education or other high social contact jobs and offspring yolk sac tumors.