TY - JOUR
T1 - Lung cancer risk among bricklayers in a pooled analysis of case-control studies
AU - Consonni, Dario
AU - De Matteis, Sara
AU - Pesatori, Angela C.
AU - Bertazzi, Pier Alberto
AU - Olsson, Ann C.
AU - Kromhout, Hans
AU - Peters, Susan
AU - Vermeulen, Roel C.H.
AU - Pesch, Beate
AU - Brüning, Thomas
AU - Kendzia, Benjamin
AU - Behrens, Thomas
AU - Stücker, Isabelle
AU - Guida, Florence
AU - Wichmann, Heinz Erich
AU - Brüske, Irene
AU - Landi, Maria Teresa
AU - Caporaso, Neil E.
AU - Gustavsson, Per
AU - Plato, Nils
AU - Tse, Lap Ah
AU - Yu, Ignatius Tak Sun
AU - Jöckel, Karl Heinz
AU - Ahrens, Wolfgang
AU - Pohlabeln, Hermann
AU - Merletti, Franco
AU - Richiardi, Lorenzo
AU - Simonato, Lorenzo
AU - Forastiere, Francesco
AU - Siemiatycki, Jack
AU - Parent, Marie Élise
AU - Tardón, Adonina
AU - Boffetta, Paolo
AU - Zaridze, David
AU - Chen, Ying
AU - Field, John K.
AU - Mannetje, Andrea'T
AU - Pearce, Neil
AU - McLaughlin, John
AU - Demers, Paul
AU - Lissowska, Jolanta
AU - Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila
AU - Bencko, Vladimir
AU - Foretova, Lenka
AU - Janout, Vladimir
AU - Rudnai, Peter
AU - Fabiánová, Eleonóra
AU - Dumitru, Rodica Stanescu
AU - Bueno-De-Mesquita, H. B.
AU - Schüz, Joachim
AU - Straif, Kurt
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of UICC.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Bricklayers may be exposed to several lung carcinogens, including crystalline silica and asbestos. Previous studies that analyzed lung cancer risk among these workers had several study design limitations. We examined lung cancer risk among bricklayers within SYNERGY, a large international pooled analysis of case-control studies on lung cancer and the joint effects of occupational carcinogens. For men ever employed as bricklayers we estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for study center, age, lifetime smoking history and employment in occupations with exposures to known or suspected lung carcinogens. Among 15,608 cases and 18,531 controls, there were 695 cases and 469 controls who had ever worked as bricklayers (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.28-1.68). In studies using population controls the OR was 1.55 (95% CI: 1.32- 1.81, 540/349 cases/controls), while it was 1.24 (95% CI: 0.93-1.64, 155/120 cases/controls) in hospital-based studies. There was a clear positive trend with length of employment (p < 0.001). The relative risk was higher for squamous (OR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.42-1.98, 309 cases) and small cell carcinomas (OR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.44-2.20, 140 cases), than for adenocarcinoma (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 0.95-1.43, 150 cases) (p-homogeneity: 0.0007). ORs were still elevated after additional adjustment for education and in analyses using blue collar workers as referents. This study provided robust evidence of increased lung cancer risk in bricklayers. Although non-causal explanations cannot be completely ruled out, the association is plausible in view of the potential for exposure to several carcinogens, notably crystalline silica and to a lesser extent asbestos.
AB - Bricklayers may be exposed to several lung carcinogens, including crystalline silica and asbestos. Previous studies that analyzed lung cancer risk among these workers had several study design limitations. We examined lung cancer risk among bricklayers within SYNERGY, a large international pooled analysis of case-control studies on lung cancer and the joint effects of occupational carcinogens. For men ever employed as bricklayers we estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for study center, age, lifetime smoking history and employment in occupations with exposures to known or suspected lung carcinogens. Among 15,608 cases and 18,531 controls, there were 695 cases and 469 controls who had ever worked as bricklayers (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.28-1.68). In studies using population controls the OR was 1.55 (95% CI: 1.32- 1.81, 540/349 cases/controls), while it was 1.24 (95% CI: 0.93-1.64, 155/120 cases/controls) in hospital-based studies. There was a clear positive trend with length of employment (p < 0.001). The relative risk was higher for squamous (OR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.42-1.98, 309 cases) and small cell carcinomas (OR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.44-2.20, 140 cases), than for adenocarcinoma (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 0.95-1.43, 150 cases) (p-homogeneity: 0.0007). ORs were still elevated after additional adjustment for education and in analyses using blue collar workers as referents. This study provided robust evidence of increased lung cancer risk in bricklayers. Although non-causal explanations cannot be completely ruled out, the association is plausible in view of the potential for exposure to several carcinogens, notably crystalline silica and to a lesser extent asbestos.
KW - Bricklayers
KW - Case-control studies
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Lung neoplasms
KW - Occupational health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922332724&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ijc.28986
DO - 10.1002/ijc.28986
M3 - Article
C2 - 24861979
AN - SCOPUS:84922332724
SN - 0020-7136
VL - 136
SP - 360
EP - 371
JO - International Journal of Cancer
JF - International Journal of Cancer
ER -