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Upper airways cancer, myeloid leukaemia and other cancers in chemical workers exposed to formaldehyde

Upper airways cancer, myeloid leukaemia and other cancers in chemical workers exposed to formaldehyde
Upper airways cancer, myeloid leukaemia and other cancers in chemical workers exposed to formaldehyde
The International Agency for Research on Cancer controversially has classified formaldehyde as causing nasopharyngeal carcinoma and myeloid leukemia. To provide further information on this question, we extended follow-up of a cohort of 14,008 chemical workers at 6 factories in England and Wales, covering the period 1941–2012. Mortality was compared with national death rates for England and Wales, and associations with incident upper airway cancer and leukemia were explored in nested case-control analyses. We observed excess deaths from cancers of the esophagus (100 observed vs. 93.1 expected), stomach (182 vs. 141.4), rectum (107 vs. 86.8), liver (35 vs. 26.9), and lung (813 vs. 645.8), but none of these tumors exhibited a clear exposure-response relationship. Nested case-control analyses of 115 men with upper airway cancer (including 1 nasopharyngeal cancer), 92 men with leukemia, and 45 men with myeloid leukemia indicated no elevations of risk in the highest exposure category (high exposure for ?1 year). When the 2 highest exposure categories were combined, the odds ratio for myeloid leukemia was 1.26 (95% confidence interval: 0.39, 4.08). Our results provide no support for an increased hazard of myeloid leukemia, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, or other upper airway tumors from formaldehyde exposure. These results indicate that any excess risk of these cancers, even from relatively high exposures, is at most small.
cancer, chemical industry, formaldehyde, mortality, myeloid leukemia, nasopharyngeal cancer, occupational exposure
0002-9262
1301-1311
Coggon, D.
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3
Ntani, G.
9b009e0a-5ab2-4c6e-a9fd-15a601e92be5
Harris, E.C.
3e4bd946-3f09-45a1-8725-d35e80dd7971
Palmer, K.T.
0cfe63f0-1d33-40ff-ae8c-6c33601df850
Coggon, D.
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3
Ntani, G.
9b009e0a-5ab2-4c6e-a9fd-15a601e92be5
Harris, E.C.
3e4bd946-3f09-45a1-8725-d35e80dd7971
Palmer, K.T.
0cfe63f0-1d33-40ff-ae8c-6c33601df850

Coggon, D., Ntani, G., Harris, E.C. and Palmer, K.T. (2014) Upper airways cancer, myeloid leukaemia and other cancers in chemical workers exposed to formaldehyde. American Journal of Epidemiology, 179 (11), 1301-1311. (doi:10.1093/aje/kwu049). (PMID:24714728)

Record type: Article

Abstract

The International Agency for Research on Cancer controversially has classified formaldehyde as causing nasopharyngeal carcinoma and myeloid leukemia. To provide further information on this question, we extended follow-up of a cohort of 14,008 chemical workers at 6 factories in England and Wales, covering the period 1941–2012. Mortality was compared with national death rates for England and Wales, and associations with incident upper airway cancer and leukemia were explored in nested case-control analyses. We observed excess deaths from cancers of the esophagus (100 observed vs. 93.1 expected), stomach (182 vs. 141.4), rectum (107 vs. 86.8), liver (35 vs. 26.9), and lung (813 vs. 645.8), but none of these tumors exhibited a clear exposure-response relationship. Nested case-control analyses of 115 men with upper airway cancer (including 1 nasopharyngeal cancer), 92 men with leukemia, and 45 men with myeloid leukemia indicated no elevations of risk in the highest exposure category (high exposure for ?1 year). When the 2 highest exposure categories were combined, the odds ratio for myeloid leukemia was 1.26 (95% confidence interval: 0.39, 4.08). Our results provide no support for an increased hazard of myeloid leukemia, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, or other upper airway tumors from formaldehyde exposure. These results indicate that any excess risk of these cancers, even from relatively high exposures, is at most small.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 18 February 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 April 2014
Published date: 1 June 2014
Keywords: cancer, chemical industry, formaldehyde, mortality, myeloid leukemia, nasopharyngeal cancer, occupational exposure
Organisations: Faculty of Medicine

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 367108
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/367108
ISSN: 0002-9262
PURE UUID: 8474d02f-b95f-4365-b188-03b61edb6aca
ORCID for D. Coggon: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1930-3987
ORCID for E.C. Harris: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8037-566X

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Date deposited: 29 Jul 2014 10:59
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:52

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Contributors

Author: D. Coggon ORCID iD
Author: G. Ntani
Author: E.C. Harris ORCID iD
Author: K.T. Palmer

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