Risk of Nervous System Cancer Among Workers Exposed to Lead

Experimental animal studies suggest that lead compounds may increase the risk of gliomas. To study whether occupational exposure to lead increases the risk, we followed nervous system cancer incidence among 20,741 employees biologically monitored for their blood lead (B-Pb) concentrations. We also p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 1996-02, Vol.38 (2), p.131-136
Main Authors: Anttila, Ahti, Heikkilä, Pirjo, Nykyri, Erkki, Kauppinen, Timo, Pukkala, Eero, Hernberg, Sven, Hemminki, Kari
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Brain Neoplasms - blood
Brain Neoplasms - chemically induced
Brain Neoplasms - epidemiology
Cancer
Cohort Studies
Confidence Intervals
Cross-Sectional Studies
Environmental Monitoring
Epidemiological Monitoring
Female
Finland - epidemiology
Glioma - blood
Glioma - chemically induced
Glioma - epidemiology
Health risk assessment
Humans
Incidence
Lead
Lead - adverse effects
Lead - pharmacokinetics
Lead Poisoning - blood
Lead Poisoning - complications
Lead Poisoning - epidemiology
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system
Neurology
Occupational Exposure - adverse effects
Occupational hazards
Odds Ratio
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Risk
Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses
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Summary:Experimental animal studies suggest that lead compounds may increase the risk of gliomas. To study whether occupational exposure to lead increases the risk, we followed nervous system cancer incidence among 20,741 employees biologically monitored for their blood lead (B-Pb) concentrations. We also performed a nested case-referent study, comprising 26 male cases of nervous system cancer (16 of which had gliomas). Those cases a B-Pb ≥ 1.4 μmol/L had a twofold increase in the odds ratio of nervous system cancer as compared with those employees whose B-Pb had not exceeded 0.7 μmol/L. The excess was confined to gliomas (odds ratio 11, 95% confidence interval 1.0 to 630 for B-Pb ≥ 1.4 μmol/I; overall P value for trend, 0.037). We obtained lifetime information on exposure and potential confounders for 58% of the cases. The odds ratio of glioma was associated with indices of lifetime exposure to lead, and potential confounders seemed not to explain the effects. The results suggest that there may be an association between occupational lead exposure and the risk of gliomas. No firm conclusions can be drawn because of the small number of cases and loss of material.
ISSN:1076-2752
1536-5948
DOI:10.1097/00043764-199602000-00010