Residential sources of pesticide exposure during pregnancy and the risks of hypospadias and cryptorchidism: the French ELFE birth cohort

Objectives Prenatal occupational exposure to pesticideshas been associated with male reproductive tract abnormalities. Little is known about the possible impact of non-occupational pesticideexposure on fetal and child development in the general population. Using data from a nationwide birth cohort, we aimed to assess the association between residential sources of prenatal pesticideexposure and the risks of hypospadiasand cryptorchidism. Methods Of the 9281 boys in ELFE (French Longitudinal Study of Children), the national French birth cohort, 53 were diagnosed with hypospadiasand 137 with cryptorchidism. We assessed residential exposure sources from self-reported domestic use of eight types of pesticideproducts and French spatial land use data with acreage within a 1000 m radius around each family’s home for 21 crop types. We used logistic regression modelling, adjusted for possible confounders that included estimated dietary pesticideintake. Multiple imputations were used to handle missing data. Results An increased risk of hypospadiaswas associated with domestic pesticideuse against fleasand ticks (OR=2.28, 95% CI 1.09 to 4.75); no associations were found between cryptorchidism and any domestic pesticideuse. Slightly increased risks of cryptorchidism were observed in association with all crop acreages near homes during pregnancy, especially for orchards, and no association was observed for hypospadias. Conclusions Our results suggest a possible increased risk of hypospadiasassociated with prenatal use of some domestic pesticideproducts, likely to contain insecticides, and of cryptorchidism with nearby orchard acreage (crops repeatedly sprayed with pesticides). This work is limited by its modest number of cases.