Maternal residential proximity to hazardous waste sites and risk for selected congenital malformations

Epidemiology. 1997 Jul;8(4):347-54. doi: 10.1097/00001648-199707000-00001.

Abstract

Using data from two population-based case-control studies, we investigated whether maternal residential proximity to hazardous waste sites increased the risk for neural tube defects, conotruncal heart defects, and oral cleft defects in California. We obtained a residential history by interview for mothers of 507 neural tube defect cases (82.7% of eligible) and their 517 controls (84.6%); and 201 heart cases (84.4%), 439 cleft cases (82.2%), and their 455 controls (72.1%). We identified the locations of 764 inactive hazardous waste sites and systematically collected information on site-related contamination for the subset of 105 National Priority List sites. After controlling for several potential confounders, we found little or no increased risk for maternal residence in a census tract containing a site [odds ratio (OR) = 0.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.7-1.3 for neural tube defects; OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 0.8-2.1 for heart cases; OR = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.8-1.8 for clefts], but elevated risks for neural tube defects (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 0.6-7.6) and heart defects (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 0.7-26.5) for maternal residence within 1/4 mile of a National Priority List site. Furthermore, we observed elevated ORs (> or = 2.0) for neural tube defects and heart defects in association with maternal residence within 1 mile of National Priority List sites containing selected chemical contaminants. Among controls, only 0.6% and 4.4% lived within 1/4 mile and 1 mile of a National Priority List site, respectively, resulting in imprecision in risk estimation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • California / epidemiology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cleft Palate / chemically induced
  • Cleft Palate / epidemiology*
  • Confidence Intervals
  • Cyanides / adverse effects
  • Databases, Factual
  • Female
  • Hazardous Waste* / adverse effects
  • Hazardous Waste* / analysis
  • Hazardous Waste* / statistics & numerical data
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / chemically induced
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Logistic Models
  • Maternal Exposure* / adverse effects
  • Maternal Exposure* / statistics & numerical data
  • Military Personnel / statistics & numerical data
  • Neural Tube Defects / chemically induced
  • Neural Tube Defects / epidemiology*
  • Odds Ratio
  • Pesticides / adverse effects
  • Pregnancy
  • Residence Characteristics*

Substances

  • Cyanides
  • Hazardous Waste
  • Pesticides