Prediagnostic serum concentrations of organochlorine pesticides and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A nested case-control study in the Norwegian Janus Serum Bank Cohort

Abstract

Background: Much of the marked increase in incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) over the past few decades remains unexplained. Organochlorines, including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), have been implicated as possible contributors to the increase, but the evidence is inconsistent.

Objectives: To investigate the relation between pre-diagnostic levels of OCPs and risk of NHL in a case-control study nested within the population-based Janus Serum Bank Cohort in Norway.

Methods: Prediagnostic concentrations of 11 OCPs or OCP metabolites were measured in baseline blood samples collected between 1972 and 1978 from 190 cases and 190 controls matched on sex, county, age at blood draw, and date of blood draw. We conducted conditional logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for each quartile of lipid-corrected OCP/metabolite relative to the lowest quartile.

Results: We observed non-significantly elevated ORs across quartiles of β-hexachlorocyclohexane compared to the lowest quartile (OR range: 1.40-1.82) although with no apparent monotonic exposure-response relationship. We also found an inverse association between risk of NHL and o,p'-DDT (OR for Q₄ vs. Q₁ = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.19, 1.01; p-trend = 0.05). In analyses stratified by age at blood collection and duration of follow-up, several other analytes, primarily chlordane-related compounds, showed inverse associations among younger participants or those with longer follow-up time between blood draw and NHL diagnosis.

Conclusions: We found only limited evidence of positive association between selected OCPs and development of NHL.

Keywords: Environmental pollutants; Epidemiology; Non-Hodgkin lymphoma; Organochlorines; Pesticides.