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Significant amounts of pyrethroid pesticides are used throughout China. Previous studies have suggested that exposure to pesticides may increase the risk of childhood cancer; however, few studies have focused on pyrethroid metabolites. We investigated five nonspecific metabolites of pyrethroid pesticides found in children's urine and examined the correlation with childhood leukemia. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in Shanghai between 2010 and 2011. The study included 176 children aged 0-14 years and 180 controls matched for age and sex. Compared with those in the lowest quartiles of total and individual metabolites, the highest quartiles were associated with an approximate 2-fold increased risk of ALL [total metabolites: odds ratio (OR) = 2.75, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.43-5.29; cis-DCCA: OR = 2.21, 95% CI, 1.16-4.19; trans-DCCA: OR = 2.33, 95% CI, 1.23-4.41; and 3-PBA: OR = 1.84, 95% CI, 1.00-3.38], and most of the positive trends were significant (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that urinary levels of pyrethroid metabolites may be associated with an elevated risk of childhood ALL and represent a previously unreported quantitative exposure assessment for childhood leukemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large amount of organophosphate pesticides (OPs) is used throughout China. Animal studies have suggested that even moderate doses are toxic to neurodevelopment, but there are a few studies in humans. We investigated both the urinary levels of OP metabolites in children and their relationship with child neurodevelopment. Participating 301 young children (23-25 months of age) were recruited from two community hospitals in Shanghai between February and October 2008. We measured five nonspecific dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolite levels of OPs in the children's urine and examined their association with the children's developmental quotients (DQs) based on the Gesell Developmental Schedules (GDS). The creatinine-adjusted geometric means (GMs) of OP metabolites in urine samples were 11.27 μg/g for DMP; 6.99 μg/g for DMTP; 7.96 μg/g for DEP; 14.19 μg/g for DETP; and 4.55 μg/g for DEDTP. The children had relatively higher levels of OP urinary metabolites compared with those reported in developed countries, no association was found between child urinary levels of OP metabolites and any of the DQ scores. However, our results should be interpreted with caution, and more studies of children living in China are warranted given the relatively high levels of child OP urinary metabolites in Shanghai.