Biomedical Research

The association between the higher occurrence of pediatric leukemia and maternal exposure to residential or occupational pesticides is a debatable subject, especially in agricultural country like China. This study evaluates the association between exposure of mothers to home and occupational pesticides and likelihood of pediatric leukemia. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in main hospitals of Zhengzhou city, China, between September 2014 and October 2015 and children and mothers (n=1203) from oncology (cases; n=390) and orthopedic department (controls; n=813) were enrolled. The Odds Ratio (OR) for correlation between incidence of leukemia and professional home pest control applications during pregnancy and post-childbirth were 1.8 [95% Confidence Interval (CI), 1.2-2.8] and 1.3 [95% CI, 1.1-2.4], respectively. The OR for association between incidence of leukemia and garden pesticide exposure during pregnancy was 2.3 [95% CI, 0.8-7.2] and during childhood was 1.23 [CI, 1.1-2.7], respectively. These results suggest that possible pesticide exposure during pregnancy is related to increased likelihood of leukemia in children and mothers are advised to avoid exposure to pesticides during pregnancy.

Author(s): Chun-Mei Yu
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