Association Between Pesticide Use and Incidence of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Abstract

Background/aim: Exposure to pesticides has been reportedly associated with several types of cancer.

Materials and methods: In this study, we used data from The United States Geological Survey (USGS), United States Census, and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to analyze the association between the area density of specific agricultural pesticides and the county level annual incidence of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Results: Incidence of DLBCL was significantly associated with an area density of 14 of the pesticides reported by USGS.

Conclusion: This highlights the need for further investigation into the safety of the use of these pesticides. The importance of this study comes not only from the significant association it shows between pesticides and the incidence of cancer, but also from the fact that it included all compounds reported to USGS as being used in agriculture. This helps in prioritizing pesticides for further evaluation.

Keywords: Pesticide; carcinogenicity; ecologic; lymphoma.