1. RISK OF LUNG CANCER AND MESOTHELIOMA ASSOCIATED WITH OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS.
- Author
-
Parent, M E, Siemiatycki, J, Laplante, E, and Desy, M
- Subjects
LUNG cancer risk factors ,MESOTHELIOMA risk factors ,TOXICOLOGY of asbestos ,HEALTH of textile workers ,HEALTH of miners ,SOCIAL status ,POPULATION-based case control ,REGRESSION analysis - Abstract
Most of the evidence about the risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma resulting from asbestos exposure comes from studies focusing on specific groups of workers with high exposure levels such as miners and asbestos textile workers. We present here results of our population-based case-control study of cancer and occupational exposures conducted in Montreal in the 1980s, thereby providing estimates of risks associated with exposure to asbestos incurred at various levels and over a wide range of occupations. Interviews were carried out with 3630 histologically-confirmed incident cancer cases (19 cancer sites), of whom 857 were lung cancers and 12 were mesotheliomas, and with 533 population controls. A detailed job history was obtained, as well as data on potential confounders. Each job held by each subject was evaluated by a team of chemists/hygienists and translated into a list of 300 potential exposures, including asbestos. In total, about 19% of study subjects had asbestos exposure. For each case series-lung cancer and mesothelioma, unconditional logistic regression analyses were performed using both the population controls (n = 533) and cancer control series (n = 1349 for lung cancer; n = 2860 for mesothelioma). Analyses focusing on lung cancer were adjusted for age, socio-economic status, respondent status, ethnicity and smoking as well as exposure to selected occupational carcinogens. Analyses focusing on mesothelioma were adjusted for age, socio-economic status and respondent status. For both lung cancer and mesothelioma, it turned out that results were similar using one or other control group; we present results using cancer controls. The odds ratio (OR) for lung cancer associated with exposure to asbestos was 1.1 (95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 0.8-1.5) for workers exposed at the non-substantial level and 1.9 (95%CI = 1.0-3.6) for those exposed at the substantial level. The OR for mesothelioma associated with non-substantial exposure to asbestos was 3.1 (95%CI = 0.8-12.3) and 15.0 (95%CI = 2.9-78.6) for exposure at the substantial level. All asbestos-exposed subjects were thought to have been exposed to chrysotile fibers. While it is difficult to ascertain, there was an attempt to identify the subset that had also been exposed to amphiboles. The subset thus earmarked experienced somewhat lower risk of lung cancer and higher risk of mesothelioma than the rest of the asbestos-exposed workers, but none of these differences (between amphibole-exposed and other asbestos-exposed workers) were significantly different. In conclusion, low levels of occupational exposure to asbestos were not associated with an excess risk of lung cancer while higher levels were. Excess risks of mesothelioma were manifest at low and high levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2003
- Full Text
- View/download PDF