Parental occupation and Ewing's sarcoma: Pooled and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Etiologic data on Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) are limited, with only 5 case-control studies reported. Interesting associations, particularly related to parental occupation, have been noted, but results are somewhat inconsistent. We conducted a pooled analysis of 3 case-control studies to assess the overall associations between parental occupation and ESFT. The pooled analysis provided data on parental occupational exposure on 199 cases of ESFT and 1,451 controls. The pooled odds ratio for the periconception and gestation periods were 2.3 (95% CI = 1.3-4.1) for children whose fathers had worked on farms and 3.9 (95% CI = 1.6-9.9) for those whose mothers had farmed. For the periconception and gestation periods, there was a 3.5-fold increased risk for those with both parents having farmed and a doubling of risk for those with at least one parent having farmed; pattern of increasing risk with increasing number of years of postnatal parental exposure to farms was seen. No other occupational group (or more narrowly defined occupations) had other than minor inconsistent associations with the occurrence of ESFT. In addition, we conducted a meta-analysis of farm occupation (a main risk factor) including all 4 case-control studies that collected required information to consider parental occupation. Results of the meta-analysis were consistent with those from the pooled analysis. This collaborative analysis of available individual data on parental occupation and ESFT in the offspring provides evidence supporting the hypothesis of an association between ESFT and parental occupation in farming. ' 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Occupational factors and risk of adult bone sarcomas: A multicentric case‐control study in Europe

“…34 A pooled analysis of these studies has revealed a positive overall association. 36 It has been suggested that organic dusts are the agents possibly determining the increased risk of Ewing's sarcoma among children of farmers. 35 In conclusion, our study suggests that novel and previously reported occupational factors, such as woodworking, play a role in the aetiology of bone sarcomas.…”

Bone tumours in European children and adolescents, 1978–1997. Report from the Automated Childhood Cancer Information System project

“…7 Analyses of combined data from several case-control studies in North America and Australia have confirmed earlier findings of a raised risk with a history of umbilical hernia, possibly with a common environmental cause, 8 and with parental occupation in farming, though with no indication of the relative importance of exposure to particular categories of chemicals or animals. 9 This paper presents geographical patterns and time trends in the incidence and survival rates for malignant bone tumours among children and adolescents in Europe and identifies needs for further studies. The analyses are based on a large European database within the Automated Childhood Cancer Information System (ACCIS), which contains data from 80 population-based cancer registries in 35 participating countries.…”

Incidence, treatment and survival of paediatric patients with bone sarcomas in Finland from 1991 to 2005

“…Race is a known risk factor for Ewing's sarcoma , with Caucasians being reported to have a higher incidence. Hernias have also been shown to be associated with Ewing's sarcoma and having parents working in farming has been suggested as the link between these two . The possible association between farming and the lower incidence of Ewing's sarcoma in northern Europe remains unstudied.…”