Taiba Jabeen, Beseler Cheryl, Zahid Muhammad, Bartelt-Hunt Shannon, Kolok Alan, Rogan Eleanor
Department of Environmental Agricultural and Occupational Health College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha NE USA.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering University of Nebraska-Lincoln Omaha NE USA.
Geohealth. 2025 Feb 12;9(2):e2024GH001236. doi: 10.1029/2024GH001236. eCollection 2025 Feb.
Nebraska's age-adjusted incidence rates for childhood cancers are among the highest in the US. Previous studies indicated associations between agrichemical exposures (atrazine and nitrates) and pediatric cancer rate, assuming single pollutant exposure. We evaluated the joint association between the agricultural mixture and pediatric cancer. Agrichemical exposures at a county scale were quantified using the USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project for frequently applied pesticides from 1992 to 2014 in 93 Nebraska counties. Outcomes were quantified using pediatric cancer diagnosed among children <20 years of age (1992-2014) from the Nebraska cancer registry. We adjusted for social vulnerability factors such as race, income, employment, and access to care. The associations between 32 agrichemicals and cancer subtypes were assessed using the Generalized Weighted Quantile Sum Regression (gWQS) model. The model was fit assuming a Poisson distribution and using the pediatric population as an offset-term and social vulnerability factors as covariates. We observed a statistically significant positive association between the 32 agrichemicals and overall pediatric cancer and subtypes. The strength of associations was slightly stronger among brain and CNS cancers ( = 0.36, CI = 0.14, 0.57) compared to overall cancer ( = 0.30, CI = 0.16, 0.44) and leukemia ( = 0.23, CI = 0.09, 0.38). Dicamba, glyphosate, paraquat, quizalofop, triasulfuron, and tefluthrin largely contributed to the joint association. These findings may explain the joint associations of the agrichemical mixture on childhood cancer. Alternative biomarker-based approaches to measuring human exposure are worth investigating for chemicals of concern, particularly in counties with high agrichemical and cancer rates.
内布拉斯加州儿童癌症的年龄调整发病率在美国名列前茅。先前的研究表明，农业化学品暴露（阿特拉津和硝酸盐）与儿童癌症发病率之间存在关联，前提是单一污染物暴露。我们评估了农业化学品混合物与儿童癌症之间的联合关联。利用美国地质调查局农药国家综合项目，对1992年至2014年期间内布拉斯加州93个县频繁使用的农药进行了县级农业化学品暴露量的量化。利用内布拉斯加州癌症登记处1992 - 2014年期间20岁以下儿童诊断出的儿童癌症病例数进行了结果量化。我们对种族、收入、就业和医疗服务可及性等社会脆弱性因素进行了调整。使用广义加权分位数和回归（gWQS）模型评估了32种农业化学品与癌症亚型之间的关联。该模型假设服从泊松分布，以儿童人口作为偏移项，以社会脆弱性因素作为协变量进行拟合。我们观察到32种农业化学品与总体儿童癌症及其亚型之间存在统计学上显著的正相关。与总体癌症（β = 0.30，CI = 0.16，0.44）和白血病（β = 0.23，CI = 0.09，0.38）相比，脑癌和中枢神经系统癌症中的关联强度略强（β = 0.36，CI = 0.14，0.57）。麦草畏、草甘膦、百草枯、精喹禾灵、苯磺隆和高效氯氟氰菊酯在很大程度上促成了这种联合关联。这些发现可能解释了农业化学品混合物与儿童癌症之间的联合关联。对于令人担忧的化学品，尤其是在农业化学品和癌症发病率高的县，基于替代生物标志物的人类暴露测量方法值得研究。
