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Occupation and cancer of the lower urinary tract
Author(s) -
Cole Philip,
Hoover Robert,
Friedell Gilbert H.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197205)29:5<1250::aid-cncr2820290518>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - medicine , bladder cancer , cancer , urinary system , epidemiology , population , disease , demography , surgery , environmental health , sociology
Lifetime occupation histories were elicited from 461 persons with transitional or squamous‐cell carcinoma of the lower urinary tract, 94% of whom had a bladder tumor. This was a sample of all such persons newly diagnosed in a designated area in eastern Massachusetts during a recent 18‐month period. A sample of 485 persons from the population of the entire study area provided comparable histories and serves as a control group. Occupations were classified according to two schemes developed for this study. Among men, excess risk of lower urinary tract cancer was found in 5 of 8 occupation categories where this was suspected a priori : dyestuffs, rubber, leather and leather products, and paint and organic chemicals. Although suspected, excess risk was not confirmed for 3 categories: printing, petroleum, and chemicals other than organic. The relative risks for men ever employed in the rubber industry (1.63) and in the leather industry (2.25) are statistically significant, p < 0.05. In absolute terms, the 5 risk categories account annually for 7.3 cases of lower urinary tract cancer per 100,000 men aged 20–89; this is about 18% of male bladder cancer. Among women, the comparable figures are 0.8 cases and 6% of the disease. None of the associations of bladder cancer with occupation results from any indirect association with cigarette smoking. Although requiring cautious interpretation, the data suggest increased risk in 2 occupation groups not previously suspected: cooks and kitchen workers and clerical workers.