1. Occupational Lead Exposure and Associations with Selected Cancers: The Shanghai Men's and Women's Health Study Cohorts.
- Author
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Liao, Linda M., Friesen, Melissa C., Xiang, Yong-Bing, Cai, Hui, Koh, Dong-Hee, Ji, Bu-Tian, Yang, Gong, Li, Hong-Lan, Locke, Sarah J., Rothman, Nathaniel, Zheng, Wei, Gao, Yu-Tang, Shu, Xiao-Ou, and Purdue, Mark P.
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BRAIN tumor risk factors , *BRAIN tumors , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *EPIDEMIOLOGICAL research , *KIDNEY tumors , *LEAD , *LONGITUDINAL method , *LUNG tumors , *MENINGIOMA , *RESEARCH funding , *OCCUPATIONAL hazards , *STOMACH tumors , *ENVIRONMENTAL exposure , *DISEASE incidence , *PROPORTIONAL hazards models , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *TUMOR risk factors , *DISEASE risk factors - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies of occupational lead exposure have suggested increased risks of cancers of the stomach, lung, kidney, brain, and meninges; however, the totality of the evidence is inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relationship between occupational lead exposure and cancer incidence at the five abovementioned sites in two prospective cohorts in Shanghai, China. METHODS: Annual job/industry-specific estimates of lead fume and lead dust exposure, derived from a statistical model combining expert lead intensity ratings with inspection measurements, were applied to the lifetime work histories of participants from the Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS; n = 73,363) and the Shanghai Men's Health Study (SMHS; n = 61,379) to estimate cumulative exposure to lead fume and lead dust. These metrics were then combined into an overall occupational lead exposure variable. Cohort-specific relative hazard rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing exposed and unexposed participants were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression and combined by meta-analysis. RESULTS: The proportions of SWHS and SMHS participants with estimated occupational lead exposure were 8.9% and 6.9%, respectively. Lead exposure was positively associated with menin-gioma risk in women only (n = 38 unexposed and 9 exposed cases; RR = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.1, 5.0), particularly with above-median cumulative exposure (RR = 3.1; 95% CI: 1.3, 7.4). However, all 12 meningioma cases among men were classified as unexposed to lead. We also observed nonsignificant associations with lead exposure for cancers of the kidney (n = 157 unexposed and 17 ever exposed cases; RR = 1.4; 95% CI: 0.9, 2.3) and brain (n = 67 unexposed and 10 ever exposed cases; RR = 1.8; 95% CI: 0.7, 4.8) overall. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings, though limited by small numbers of cases, suggest that lead is associated with the risk of several cancers in women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
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