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Atrazine in public water supplies and risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Few studies have evaluated environmental chemical exposures in relation to ovarian cancer. We previously found an increased risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women in Iowa associated with higher nitrate levels in public water supplies (PWS). However, elevated nitrate levels may reflect the presence of other agricultural chemicals, such as atrazine, one of the most commonly detected pesticides in Iowa PWS. METHODS:We evaluated the association between atrazine in drinking water and incident ovarian cancer (N=145, 1986-2010) among 13?041 postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study who used their PWS for ?11?years as reported in 1989. Average levels of atrazine (1986-1987), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N, 1955-1988) and estimated levels of total trihalomethanes (TTHM, 1955-1988) from PWS monitoring data were linked to the participants' cities of residence. We computed HRs and 95% CIs by categories of the average atrazine level (not detected, ? or >0.37 parts per billion=median) using Cox proportional hazards regression adjusting for ovarian cancer risk factors. RESULTS:Atrazine was detected in water samples from 69 cities where 4155 women (32%) lived and levels were moderately correlated with NO3-N (?=0.35) and TTHM (?=0.24). Atrazine levels were not associated with ovarian cancer risk with or without adjusting for NO3-N and TTHM levels (p-trend=0.50 and 0.81, respectively). Further, there was no evidence for effect modification of the atrazine association by NO3-N or TTHM levels. CONCLUSIONS:In our study with low atrazine detection rates, we found no association between atrazine in PWS and postmenopausal ovarian cancer risk.

SUBMITTER: Inoue-Choi M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5072122 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Atrazine in public water supplies and risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

Inoue-Choi Maki M Weyer Peter J PJ Jones Rena R RR Booth Benjamin J BJ Cantor Kenneth P KP Robien Kim K Ward Mary H MH

Occupational and environmental medicine 20160701 9

<h4>Background</h4>Few studies have evaluated environmental chemical exposures in relation to ovarian cancer. We previously found an increased risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women in Iowa associated with higher nitrate levels in public water supplies (PWS). However, elevated nitrate levels may reflect the presence of other agricultural chemicals, such as atrazine, one of the most commonly detected pesticides in Iowa PWS.<h4>Methods</h4>We evaluated the association between atrazine i ...[more]

PMID: 27371663

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Project description:Nitrate is a drinking water contaminant arising from agricultural sources, and it is a precursor in the endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds (NOC), which are possible bladder carcinogens.We investigated the ingestion of nitrate and nitrite from drinking water and diet and bladder cancer risk in women.We identified incident bladder cancers among a cohort of 34,708 postmenopausal women in Iowa (1986-2010). Dietary nitrate and nitrite intakes were estimated from a baseline food frequency questionnaire. Drinking water source and duration were assessed in a 1989 follow-up. For women using public water supplies (PWS) > 10 years (n = 15,577), we estimated average nitrate (NO3-N) and total trihalomethane (TTHM) levels and the number of years exceeding one-half the maximum contaminant level (NO3-N: 5 mg/L, TTHM: 40 ?g/mL) from historical monitoring data. We computed hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and assessed nitrate interactions with TTHM and with modifiers of NOC formation (smoking, vitamin C).We identified 258 bladder cancer cases, including 130 among women > 10 years at their PWS. In multivariable-adjusted models, we observed nonsignificant associations among women in the highest versus lowest quartile of average drinking water nitrate concentration (HR = 1.48; 95% CI: 0.92, 2.40; ptrend = 0.11), and we found significant associations among those exposed ? 4 years to drinking water with > 5 mg/L NO3-N (HR = 1.62; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.47; ptrend = 0.03) compared with women having 0 years of comparable exposure. TTHM adjustment had little influence on associations, and we observed no modification by vitamin C intake. Relative to a common reference group of never smokers with the lowest nitrate exposures, associations were strongest for current smokers with the highest nitrate exposures (HR = 3.67; 95% CI: 1.43, 9.38 for average water NO3-N and HR = 3.48; 95% CI: 1.20, 10.06 and ? 4 years > 5 mg/L, respectively). Dietary nitrate and nitrite intakes were not associated with bladder cancer.Long-term ingestion of elevated nitrate in drinking water was associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer among postmenopausal women. Citation: Jones RR, Weyer PJ, DellaValle CT, Inoue-Choi M, Anderson KE, Cantor KP, Krasner S, Robien K, Beane Freeman LE, Silverman DT, Ward MH. 2016. Nitrate from drinking water and diet and bladder cancer among postmenopausal women in Iowa. Environ Health Perspect 124:1751-1758;?http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP191.

Dataset Information

Atrazine in public water supplies and risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

Publications

Atrazine in public water supplies and risk of ovarian cancer among postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

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