PhD student: Danielle Awounou
Title: Influence of agricultural activities on the risk of childhood embryonic tumors
Supervisor: Stéphanie Goujons
Doctoral school: ED 393 Pierre Louis de Santé Publique : Epidémiologie et Sciences de l’Information Biomédicale
Promotion: 2020
Funding: INCa
Thesis abstract
Approximately 1,800 cancers, 25% of which are embryonal tumours, are diagnosed each year in children under the age of 15 in France. The histological and molecular characteristics of these tumours and their early age of onset lead to consider the prenatal period and the very first ages of life as a particularly important window for environmental risk factors. In particular, exposure to pesticides is suspected of increasing the risk of embryonal tumours.
The aim of this thesis is to study the link between residential proximity to agricultural crops and the risk of childhood embryonal tumours in mainland France.
The first part of the project involves a study of monthly variations in embryonal tumour incidence rates in mainland France, using data from the French National Registry of Childhood Cancers (RNCE).
The second part of the thesis, based on geolocated data from the GEOCAP project, focuses on the link between residential proximity to vines (perennial crops subject to extensive pesticide use) and the risk of embryonal tumours. In the next stage of the thesis, other crops (straw cereals, maize, oilseeds, potatoes, etc.) will be studied.
