Nitrate and Brain/CNS Cancer Diagnoses in the First Year of Life

Nitrates in drinking water, common in agricultural states like Iowa, pose health risks to young infants. This brief first reviews the plausible biological mechanisms linking nitrate exposure to brain and central nervous system (BCNS) cancers in the first year of life. We then linked historic water quality and cancer registry data at the county level to construct linear and quantile regression models estimating the association between a BCNS diagnosis and nitrate measures. We found significantly higher nitrate levels preceding pediatric zero-year-old BCNS cancer diagnoses. These findings support investigating early-life nitrate exposure as a potential risk factor for infant BCNS tumors.