Paternal Occupational Exposure to Heavy Metals and Welding Fumes and Testicular Germ Cell Tumours in Sons in France

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Testicular cancer is the most common cancer among men below 40 years old, and its causes remain largely unknown. Marked geographic differences in the occurrence along with the relatively young age at diagnosis suggest a possible role of environmental and occupational exposures that occur early in life, probably already during embryonic development. Using data from a French case–control study, we investigated associations between paternal occupational exposure to five heavy metals and welding fumes before and at birth and testicular cancer risk in sons. We estimated exposures from job titles and considered other potential risk factors in the statistical analyses. We found no association. Thus, further research is necessary to identify potentially modifiable risk factors. ABSTRACT: Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men. Its causes are largely unknown, although prenatal occupational and environmental exposures have been suggested. We investigated paternal occupational exposure to heavy metals and welding fumes and the risk of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) in their offspring. A total of 454 cases and 670 controls were included from a French nationwide case–control study. The INTEROCC job exposure matrix was used to assign occupational exposures (cadmium, chromium, iron, nickel, lead, and welding fumes) to the fathers’ jobs. Odds ratios (ORs) for TGCT were estimated using conditional logistic regression models for frequency-matched sets. Three complementary analytical approaches were used: (1) single-agent analysis, (2) analysis by groups, and (3) principal component analysis (PCA). The proportion of paternal exposure to different heavy metals and welding fumes ranged from 0.7% (cadmium) to 11.3% (lead). Based on PCA, three principal components explained 93.5% of the cumulative variance. No associations were found between heavy metals or welding fumes and TGCT. In this study, paternal occupational exposure to heavy metals or welding fumes was not associated with TGCT development in their sons.