Lung Cancer and Occupation in a Population-based Case-Control Study

Abstract

The authors examined the relation between occupation and lung cancer in the large, population-based Environment And Genetics in Lung cancer Etiology (EAGLE) case-control study. In 2002–2005 in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, 2,100 incident lung cancer cases and 2,120 randomly selected population controls were enrolled. Lifetime occupational histories (industry and job title) were coded by using standard international classifications and were translated into occupations known (list A) or suspected (list B) to be associated with lung cancer. Smoking-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated with logistic regression. For men, an increased risk was found for list A (177 exposed cases and 100 controls; odds ratio = 1.74, 95% confidence interval: 1.27, 2.38) and most occupations therein. No overall excess was found for list B with the exception of filling station attendants and bus and truck drivers (men) and launderers and dry cleaners (women). The authors estimated that 4.9% (95% confidence interval: 2.0, 7.8) of lung cancers in men were attributable to occupation. Among those in other occupations, risk excesses were found for metal workers, barbers and hairdressers, and other motor vehicle drivers. These results indicate that past exposure to occupational carcinogens remains an important determinant of lung cancer occurrence.

Occupational Exposure and Thoracic Malignancies, Is There a Relationship ?

“…Occupational exposure to welding fumes and dusts was associated with a higher relative risk of epidermoid carcinomas than that of other histological types 26) . In one study, there was excessive risk of small cell carcinoma and epidermoid carcinoma in comparison with adenocarcinoma 27) . Therefore, it is possible that there is an association between a given type of exposure and certain cell types of lung cancer.…”

Cancer mortality study among French cement production workers

“…Several epidemiologic studies have been performed to analyse the carcinogenic risks possibly associated with working in the cement production or utilization. Significant associations have been reported with lung cancer (Milne et al 1983;Rafnsson and Johannesdottir 1986;Schoenberg et al 1987;Minder and Beer-Porizek 1992;Swanson et al 1993;Robinson et al 1995;Knutsson et al 2000;Stern 2001;Smailyte et al 2004;Pukkala et al 2009;Consonni et al 2010), laryngeal and upper GI cancer, (Jakobsson et al 1990;Minder and Beer-Porizek 1992;Robinson et al 1995;Maier and Tisch 1997;Knutsson et al 2000;Stern 2001;McDowall 1984;Zagraniski et al 1986;Dietz et al 2004;Jansson et al 2005;Purdue et al 2006), colorectal cancer, (McDowall 1984;Jakobsson et al 1990Jakobsson et al , 1994Partanen et al 1994), prostate cancer (Krstev et al 1998), bladder cancer (Smailyte et al 2004) and Hodgkin's lymphoma (Blair et al 1993). Nevertheless, other showed negative results (Amandus 1986;Brownson et al 1989;Siemiatycki et al 1989;Vestbo et al 1991).…”

Mortality attributable to occupational exposure in Sweden

“…However, our estimate is in accordance with the four Swedish population-based case-referent studies. A recent Italian population-based case-referent study found that just 4.9% of lung cancer cases were work-related (27). Driscoll et al (28) estimated an AF of 12% and 4% among men and women, respectively, in a country like Sweden (28).…”