Carbaryl exposure and incident cancer in the Agricultural Health Study.

Abstract

Carbaryl is a carbamate insecticide with a broad spectrum of uses in agricultural, commercial and household settings. It has previously been linked with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) but studies of cancer risk in humans are limited. We examined occupational carbaryl use and risk of all cancers in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective study of a cohort of pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa. This analysis included 21,416 subjects (1,291 cases) enrolled from 1993-1997 and followed for cancer incidence through 2003. Pesticide exposure and other data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Poisson regression was used to calculate rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) while controlling for potential confounders. Carbaryl was not associated with cancer risk overall. Relative to subjects who never used carbaryl, melanoma risk was elevated with >175 lifetime exposure-days (RR = 4.11; 95%CI, 1.33-12.75; p-trend = 0.07), >10 years of use (RR = 3.19; 95%CI, 1.28-7.92; p-trend = 0.04), or >or=10 days of use per year (RR = 5.50; 95%CI, 2.19-13.84; p-trend < 0.001). Risk remained after adjusting for sunlight exposure. Although not significant, there appeared to be a trend of decreasing prostate cancer risk with increasing level of exposure. A small increase in NHL risk was observed using some, but not all, exposure measures. No associations were observed with other examined cancer sites. Because the observed results were not hypothesized a priori and because of limited study of their biological plausibility, they should be interpreted with caution.

• Authors: Rajeev Mahajan, Aaron Blair, Joseph Coble, Charles F Lynch, Jane A Hoppin, Dale P Sandler, Michael C R Alavanja
• Journal: International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer (Int J Cancer) Vol. 121 Issue 8 Pg. 1799-805 (Oct 15 2007) ISSN: 0020-7136 [Print] United States
• PMID: 17534892 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural)
• Copyright: (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Chemical References

• Insecticides
• Carbaryl

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Carbaryl (toxicity)
• Confounding Factors (Epidemiology)
• Female
• Humans
• Incidence
• Insecticides (toxicity)
• Iowa (epidemiology)
• Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin (epidemiology)
• Male
• Melanoma (epidemiology)
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasms (chemically induced, epidemiology)
• North Carolina (epidemiology)
• Occupational Diseases (chemically induced, epidemiology)
• Occupational Exposure (adverse effects)
• Odds Ratio
• Poisson Distribution
• Prospective Studies
• Prostatic Neoplasms (epidemiology)
• Skin Neoplasms (epidemiology)