title: Parental military service, agent orange exposure, and the risk of rhabdomyosarcoma in offspring.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the role of parental military service-related exposures and rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) risk in offspring using data from a large case-control study of childhood RMS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cases (n = 319) were enrolled from the third trial run by the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group. Population-based controls (n = 319) were pair-matched to cases on race, sex, and age. Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate parental military service-related exposures and their associations with childhood RMS by generating aORs and 95% CIs. Statistical significance was defined as P < .05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant associations between parental military service and childhood RMS. The strongest association was with maternal military service; however, this association was attenuated and did not remain significant after adjusting for covariates (aOR = 2.75, 95% CI 0.71, 10.62). An elevated effect estimate was found when assessing paternal exposure to Agent Orange (AO) and childhood RMS but was not statistically significant (aOR = 1.72, 95% CI 0.55, 5.41).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found little evidence that parental military service of AO exposure influences the risk of RMS in offspring. These findings are notable in light of the continuing controversies surrounding the intergenerational effects of AO exposure.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
authors.forename: Seymour
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grufferman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Texas Children's Cancer Center, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Electronic address: Philip.Lupo@bcm.edu.
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Lupo
authors.affiliation: Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Rachel Isaksson
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Texas Children's Cancer Center, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Heather E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Danysh
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
authors.forename: Erik B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Erhardt
authors.affiliation: Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ognjanovic
mesh_terms: D015085:2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015084:2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000328:Adult; D000075182:Agent Orange; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003678:Defoliants, Chemical / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008889:Military Personnel; D010290:Parents; D018812:Paternal Exposure; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D047829:Vietnam Conflict
chemical_list: D003678:Defoliants, Chemical; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D015084:2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid; D000075182:Agent Orange; D015085:2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid