Multi-Sources Exposure to Pesticides during Pregnancy and Risk of Hypospadias and Cryptorchidism: The French National Birth Cohort Elfe

摘要

Prenatal occupational exposure to pesticides has been associated to male reproductive tract abnormalities. Exposure of the general population might occur through other sources (domestic uses, diet and living proximity to crops) but little is known on the developmental effects of nonoccupational exposure. We aimed to assess the association between this multi-sources exposure to pesticides during pregnancy and the risk of hypospadias and cryptorchidism. Among the 9,059 boys of the French birth cohort Elfe, 51 were diagnosed with hypospadias and 134 with cryptorchidism. Exposure was assessed from 1) self-reported domestic uses of 8 pesticide product types, 2) acreage within a 1000m-buffer around home for 11 crops using French spatialized data of soil occupancy and agricultural register, and 3) maternal daily intakes estimated from food-frequency questionnaire and national survey data for 60 pesticide residues in food. For each exposure source, due to high number of variables, best-predictors selection procedure (Elastic Net) was firstly used. We then used logistic regression to assess simultaneously associations for the multiple selected exposure sources, accounting for confounding. Multiple imputation was used to handle for missing data. An increased risk of hypospadias was observed in association with domestic uses against fleas and ticks (OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.10;2.23), with acreage of barley within the lOOOm-buffer around home (1.69, 1.17;1.44), and with dietary intakes of λ-cyhalothrin (2.09, 1.11;3.95). For cryptorchidism, an increased risk was associated with the acreage of miscellaneous cereal crops within the 1000m-buffer (1.59, 1.04;2.41). No association was observed with domestic uses nor with dietary exposure. Using population-based cohort, our results suggest a possible increased risk of hypospadias and cryptorchidism in association with prenatal exposure to pesticides from some dietary and residential sources. This work is limited by a modest number of cases.