Maternal smoking and the epidemic of testicular cancer—A nested case–control study

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Abstract
For no apparent reason, the incidence of testicular cancer has increased to epidemic proportions in many countries. Pregnancy smoking has been suggested to be a cause. Previous analytical studies have been negative, but the inherent difficulties in retrospective assessment of this exposure have led to no definite conclusion. We have conducted a population-based case–control study on 192 cases of testicular germ-cell cancer—born in Sweden in 1973 onwards and aged ≥15 at cancer diagnosis—and 494 matched controls, where data on maternal smoking were collected during pregnancy. We found no association with testicular cancer for maternal smoking during pregnancy (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.64–1.30), and there was no evidence of a dose–response effect. We conclude that the epidemic rise in testicular cancer in many populations is not due to the surge in smoking among women.