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Residential Insecticide Use and Risk of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

¹ Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland; ² Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ³ Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Family Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan; ⁴ Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; ⁵ University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and ⁶ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas

Requests for reprints: Joanne Colt, National Cancer Institute, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, 6120 Executive Boulevard, Suite 8112, Rockville, MD 20852. Phone: 301-435-4704; Fax: 301-402-1819. E-mail: coltj{at}mail.nih.gov

Previous studies have linked non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) with occupational exposure to insecticides, but residential use is largely unexplored. In this population-based case-control study, we examined NHL risk and use of insecticides in the home and garden. We identified NHL cases, uninfected with HIV, diagnosed between 1998 and 2000 among women and men ages 20 to 74 years in Iowa and the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, Detroit, and Seattle. Controls were selected using random digit dialing or Medicare files. Computer-assisted personal interviews (1,321 cases and 1,057 controls) elicited data on insecticide use at each home occupied since 1970. Insecticide levels were measured in dust taken from used vacuum cleaner bags (682 cases and 513 controls). We previously reported a positive association with dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene levels in carpet dust residues. Here, we focus on insecticides that were commonly used after 1970, the time period covered by our questionnaire. People whose homes were treated for termites had elevated NHL risk (odds ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.6). Risk was modestly, although not significantly, elevated in all but one study center and in all sexes and races. The elevation in risk was restricted to people whose homes were treated before the 1988 chlordane ban. There was a significant trend of increasing risk with increasing levels of -chlordane residues in dust (P_trend = 0.04) and a marginally significant trend for -chlordane (P_trend = 0.06). We found no evidence of associations for insects overall, for specific types of insects other than termites, or for elevated residues of other insecticides. We concluded that chlordane treatment of homes for termites may increase residents' NHL risk. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):251–7)

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