Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>To investigate what role a man's occupation may have on his risk of testicular cancer, we conducted a case‐control study among noncryptorchid white males who were between 20 and 69 years of age and resided in western Washington State. Cases were men in whom a germ cell tumor of the testis was diagnosed between 1977 and 1984 (n = 323). Their occupational histories were compared to those of controls of the same age, race, and geographic area who were selected through random‐digit dialing (n = 658). Administrators/managers (relative risk (RR) = 1.5), salesmen (RR = 1.5), electricians (RR = 2.8), and sailors and fishermen (RR = 3.1) were among the jobs reported more commonly by cases than controls. The risk among farmers/farm managers was also elevated (RR = 1.9), but not that among farm workers (RR = 0.6).</jats:p><jats:p>No consistent association between any one occupation and testicular cancer has been observed across studies of this topic. The most frequent observation has been an over‐representation among cases of certain types of white collar worker; this may reflect the influence of some other aspect of socioeconomic status and not occupational exposures per se.</jats:p>