Abstract PR-009: Associations between PM2.5, vegetation density and childhood brain tumors: a case-control registry-based study from Texas 1995-2011
Authors: Lindsay Williams, David Haynes, Jeannette Sample, Laura McGuinn, Thanh Hoang, Philip Lupo, Michael Scheurer
Journal: Cancer Research (2024)

Abstract Background: Air pollution has been reported to be associated with some childhood cancers, namely leukemias. Less is known about air pollution and childhood brain tumor risk. In adult cancers, increasing vegetation density, or greenness, has been inversely associated with cancer incidence and survival. The interplay between air pollution and greenness, which co-occur, in childhood cancer etiology is unclear. Therefore, we sought to estimate the association between prenatal and early life exposure to air pollution, greenness, and childhood cancer in Texas (1995-2011). Materials and Methods: We included 1,316 individuals with a childhood brain tumor diagnosed &amp;lt;17 years of age and 109,762 age- and sex-matched controls. We linked birth certificate residential address to census tract annual average particulate matter 2.5 µg/m³ (PM2.5) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to approximate prenatal and early life exposure to greenness and air pollution. We estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) as the measure of association between PM2.5 and NDVI interquartile range (IQR) increases and brain tumors. Models were adjusted for birth year, sex, maternal race/ethnicity, and area-level socioeconomic status (Yost index). Results: The following brain tumor types were included: ependymoma (n=136), astrocytoma (n=619), medulloblastoma (n=187), PNET (n=57), ATRT (n=54), and other gliomas (n=263). Average birth year PM2.5 and NDVI exposure levels were similar in cases and controls, 11 µg/m³ and 0.4, respectively. Each IQR increase (2.6 µg/m³) in PM2.5 was associated with ependymoma (OR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.01-1.60) when adjusting for control-derived quartiles of NDVI. Conversely, after adjusting for PM2.5 quartiles, each IQR increase in NDVI (0.13) was inversely associated with ependymoma in those diagnosed at 0-4 years of age (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.56-0.97) and with medulloblastoma in those aged 0-16 years at diagnosis (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.62-0.91). There was no evidence of statistical interaction between NDVI and PM2.5 (all Likelihood Ratio Test p-values&amp;gt;0.05) for any brain tumors. Conclusions: Increasing residential air pollution during prenatal and early life increased the risk of childhood ependymoma in Texas independent of greenness. Conversely, increasing greenness exposure in prenatal and early life decreased the risk of ependymoma and medulloblastoma independent of PM2.5. These findings highlight the complex relationship between air pollution and greenness in childhood cancer etiology. Citation Format: Lindsay Williams, David Haynes, Jeannette Sample, Laura McGuinn, Thanh Hoang, Philip Lupo, Michael Scheurer. Associations between PM2.5, vegetation density and childhood brain tumors: a case-control registry-based study from Texas 1995-2011 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Brain Cancer; 2023 Oct 19-22; Minneapolis, Minnesota. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(5 Suppl_1):Abstract nr PR-009.