Open AccessFormaldehyde exposure and respiratory cancer among woodworkers--an update.
Author(s) -
Timo Partanen,
Timo Kauppinen,
Sven Hernberg,
Juha Nickels,
Ritva Luukkonen,
Timo Hakulinen,
Eero Pukkala
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of work, environment and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1795-990X
pISSN - 0355-3140
DOI - 10.5271/sjweh.1766
Subject(s) - formaldehyde , odds ratio , respiratory tract , confidence interval , lung cancer , cancer , medicine , respiratory system , cohort , inhalation exposure , chemistry , toxicity , organic chemistry
Respiratory cancer was examined in relation to occupational formaldehyde exposure in a case-referent study (136 cases, 408 referents) nested in a woodworker cohort. Plant- and time-specific job-exposure matrices were constructed for formaldehyde exposure. Over 3 ppm-months of formaldehyde exposure was associated with an odds ratio of 1.4 [90% confidence interval (90% CI) 0.5-4.1]. The odds ratios for lung cancer were near unity, the excess risk concentrating on the upper respiratory tract. That for combined exposure to formaldehyde-phenol exposure (all respiratory cancers) was 1.6 (90% CI 0.6-4.4) but 1.0 for formaldehyde only. No consistent exposure-response patterns emerged for the level, duration, or cumulative exposure. The results are hardly more than debatable support for the hypothesis concerning formaldehyde as a carcinogen in humans, the possible risk seemingly concentrating on the upper respiratory tract rather than the lung.