Correlation analysis of pesticide use data and cancer incidence rates in California counties
Correlation analysis of pesticide use data and cancer incidence rates in California counties
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DOI：
10.1080/00039899809605729
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发表时间：
1998-11-01
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影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Mills, PK
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作者：
Mills, PK
加利福尼亚州是美国领先的农业州，自 1988 年以来一直维持着基于人口的癌症登记，并且还维持着全面的全州农药报告系统。加州所有 58 个县的癌症发病率和杀虫剂使用报告数据均按县提供。根据县、性别和种族/族裔的具体情况，年龄调整后的年平均癌症发病率（1988-1992）是从加州癌症登记处（CCR）获得的，该登记处维护着整个加州基于人口的癌症登记处。农药使用数据（即每个县每年施用的活性成分磅数）是从 1993 年加州农药监管部获得的。研究人员使用皮尔逊积矩相关系数 (r) 将选定癌症的年龄调整发病率与选定农药的使用数据关联起来。对于大多数特定性别和种族/民族的群体，相关系数非常接近于零或负号，表明农药使用与癌症发病率之间没有相关性。然而，也有一些例外，特别是在西班牙裔男性中，观察到以下相关性：白血病和莠去津 (r = .40)、白血病和 2,4-二氯苯氧乙酸 (r = .41)、白血病和克菌丹 (r = .46)、莠去津和脑癌 (r = .54) 以及莠去津和睾丸癌 (r = .41)。对于黑人男性，我们观察到以下情况：莠去津和前列腺癌 (r = .67) 以及克菌丹和前列腺癌 (r = .49)。在女性中，只有少数相关性升高。尽管该分析中检查的大多数相关性并未升高，但西班牙裔和黑人男性群体中的一些相关性却升高了。这些人群传统上在加州受雇为农场工人，最有可能接触农药。这是一项生态研究，没有关于个人水平接触农药的数据可供分析。此外，在潜在接触和诊断出癌症之间不允许存在潜伏期。然而，在代表田间大多数农场工人的两个少数群体中获得的结果表明，应该在这些群体中进行额外的研究，其中使用更严格的研究设计。
California, the leading agricultural state in the United States, has maintained a population-based cancer registry since 1988, and it also maintains a comprehensive, statewide pesticide reporting system. Data on cancer incidence and pesticide use reporting are available, by county, for all 58 counties in California. Average annual age-adjusted cancer incidence rates (1988-1992), on a county-, sex-, and race/ethnicity-specific basis, were obtained from the California Cancer Registry (CCR), which maintains the population-based cancer registry throughout California. Pesticide use data (i.e., pounds of active ingredient applied annually in each county) were obtained from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation for 1993. Investigators used Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients (r) to correlate age-adjusted incidence rates for selected cancers with the use data for selected pesticides. For most sex- and race/ethnicity-specific groups, the correlation coefficients were very close to zero or negative in sign, indicating no correlation between pesticide use and cancer incidence. There were, however, several exceptions, particularly in Hispanic males for whom the following correlations were observed: leukemia and atrazine (r = .40), leukemia and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (r = .41), leukemia and captan (r = .46), atrazine and brain cancer (r = .54), and atrazine and testicular cancer (r = .41). For black males, we observed the following: atrazine and prostate cancer (r = .67) and Captan and prostate cancer (r = .49). In females, only a few of the correlations were elevated. Although most of the correlations examined in this analysis were not elevated, several of those in the Hispanic and black male populations were. These segments of the population have traditionally been employed as farm workers in California and have had the greatest potential for exposure to pesticides, This was an ecological study for which no data about exposure to pesticides at the individual level were available for analysis. In addition, no latency period was allowed between potential exposure and diagnosis with cancer. However, the results obtained in two minority groups who represented the majority of farm workers in the fields suggested that additional research studies, in which more rigorous study designs are used, should be conducted in those groups.