Occupational Cancer in Men Exposed to Dust and Other Environmental Hazards

Abstract

Data using a series of approximately 14,000 patients admitted to Roswell Park Memorial Institute for Cancer Research between 1956 and 1965 have been analyzed for occupational cancer risks. A detailed epidemiological schedule involving occupational history, smoking, drinking, and various other etiological factors was taken prior to interview. A mass screening of these data for about 20 different sites of cancer and 50 suspect occupations was conducted, using age-adjusted relative risks. A number of relationships was found between particular occupations and cancers. This report gives a survey of these relationships for men in a subset of the occupations screened, i.e., those occupations where exposure to dust would be suspected.

Unlike most previous occupational studies, this one has a broad focus on a set of occupations and cancer sites rather than a narrow focus on one specific occupation or cancer site. This broader survey provides useful insights into the role of occupational hazards in the overall public health problem of cancer and is not a substitute for intensive investigation of specific occupation-site relationships (which cannot be done here). It can, however, provide guidance on which relationships are likely to be of public health significance, and what directions the deeper investigations might take. This kind of perspective is provided for the 22-occupation cancer-site combinations where the age-adjusted relative risk is significant at the 5% probability level.