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Maternal and paternal occupational exposures and hepatoblastoma: results from the HOPE study through the Children’s Oncology Group

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 27, pages 359–364 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Little is known about the etiology of hepatoblastoma. We aimed to confirm the results of a previous study evaluating the association between parental occupational exposures and hepatoblastoma. In our case–control study, we identified cases (n=383) from the Children’s Oncology Group and controls from birth certificates (n=387), which were frequency matched to cases on year and region of birth, sex, and birth weight. Occupational exposure in the year before and during the index pregnancy was collected through maternal interview and analyzed using unconditional logistic regression. The odds of both paternal and maternal “Likely” exposure to paints was elevated among cases compared with controls (paternal odds ratio (OR): 1.71, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04, 2.81; maternal OR: 3.29, 95% CI: 0.32, 33.78) after adjustment for matching factors and the confounding factors of maternal race (maternal only) and household income. In addition, paternal exposure to other chemicals was also elevated when adjusting for matching factors only (OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.30). The results of our study provide further evidence of an association between parental occupation and hepatoblastoma. These results warrant further investigation of the etiologically relevant timing of occupational exposure to fumes and chemicals related to hepatoblastoma.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this study (COG Study ID AEPI04C1) was provided through NIH Grant Number R01 CA111355, NCTN Operations Center Grant U10CA180886, NCTN Statistics & Data Center Grant U10CA180899, Chair's Grant U10CA098543, and Statistics and Data Center Grant U10CA098413.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

    Amanda E Janitz

  2. Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Gurumurthy Ramachandran

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Gail E Tomlinson

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Mark Krailo

  5. Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Michaela Richardson & Logan Spector

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  1. Amanda E Janitz
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  2. Gurumurthy Ramachandran
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  3. Gail E Tomlinson
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  4. Mark Krailo
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  5. Michaela Richardson
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  6. Logan Spector
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Correspondence to Amanda E Janitz.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology website

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Janitz, A., Ramachandran, G., Tomlinson, G. et al. Maternal and paternal occupational exposures and hepatoblastoma: results from the HOPE study through the Children’s Oncology Group. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 27, 359–364 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2017.1

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