PARENTAL OCCUPATION, OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO SOLVENTS AND POLYCYCLICAROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS AND RISK OF CHILDHOOD BRAIN-TUMORS (ITALY, FRANCE, SPAIN)

The role of parental occupational exposure in childhood brain tumors w as investigated in a population-based case-control study grouping 251 cases and 601 controls from three European centers: Milan (Italy), Par is (France), and Valencia (Spain). Parental occupational exposure to s olvents and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during the five-yea r period before birth was estimated using a job-exposure matrix develo ped earlier in the same countries. Odds ratios (OR) of brain tumors fo r each occupation and occupational exposure were estimated by logistic regression, adjusting for child's age, gender, exposure to tobacco sm oke and ionizing radiation, mother's age and years of schooling, and c enter. The risk of childhood brain tumors rose when fathers worked in agriculture (OR = 2.2, 95 percent confidence interval [CT] = 1.0-4.7) and motor-vehicle-related occupations. In the latter group, the risk i ncreased for primitive neuroectodermal tumors in particular (OR = 2.7, CI = 1.1-6.6). Astroglial tumors were more frequent among children of mothers in health services (OR = 2.2, CI = 1.0-4.9). Paternal exposur e to PAHs was associated with an increased, but not dose-related, risk of primitive neuroectodermal tumors (OR = 2.0, CI = 1.0-4.0), and mat ernal exposure to solvents at a high level was associated with an incr eased risk of both astroglial (OR = 2.3, CI = 0.9-5.8) and primitive n euroectodermal tumors (OR = 3.2, CI = 1.0-10.3).