Testicular germ cell tumours and early exposures to pesticides: The TESTEPERA pilot study

Background. Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) represent the most frequent cancer in men aged between 15 and 45 years. Current hypotheses are focusing on environmental exposures occurring during prenatal periods. However, very few studies have explored intra-uterine environmental exposure related to TGCT. Methods. TESTEPERA is a pilot case-control study aiming to determine the effectiveness of different recruitment approaches in the French context and to verify our ability to collect relevant data on their prenatal periods. Results. Between 2011 and 2012, 150 male subjects were contacted in the Rhone-Alpes region (58 cases from a cancer center and 92 controls from a regional maternity). Participation rate varied from 33% for cases diagnosed in 2008 vs 68% for cases diagnosed in 2010. Participation rate of controls varied depending on modalities of contact (13% for face-to-face recruitment; 0% for contact by phone only; 50% for face-to-face contact with phone reminder). Data collection allowed precise job identification and geolocation of subjects' addresses. Precision of geolocation was dependent upon the level of urbanization (p < 0.001) but not on the time period (p = 0.52). Conclusion. Our results support the feasibility of a case-control study focusing on the relation between TGCT and environmental pesticide exposures during early and later life.