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. 2020 May;77(5):293-300.
doi: 10.1136/oemed-2019-106080. Epub 2020 Jan 20.

Welding and the risk of head and neck cancer: the ICARE study

Collaborators, Affiliations

Welding and the risk of head and neck cancer: the ICARE study

Christine Barul et al. Occup Environ Med. 2020 May.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between occupational exposure to welding and the risk of head and neck cancer in a large French population-based case-control study, the Investigation of occupational and environmental CAuses of REspiratory cancers study.

Methods: Analyses were restricted to men (2703 controls and 1588 cases of squamous-cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx). Welding activity and potential confounders were assessed by detailed questionnaires. ORs and CIs (95% CI) were estimated by unconditional logistic regression, adjusted for age, area of residence, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and occupational exposure to asbestos.

Results: Welding was associated with an increased risk of head and neck cancer overall (OR=1.31, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.67). The association was strongest for laryngeal cancer (OR=1.66, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.38) and the risk increased with the cumulative duration (p-trend <0.01) and the weighted duration (p-trend <0.01) of welding. A cumulative duration and a weighted duration of welding of more than 10 years were also associated with a significantly increased risk of oral cancer (OR=1.82, 95% CI 1.09 to 3.04; OR=2.10, 95% CI 0.99 to 4.45, respectively). A long duration of arc welding was associated with laryngeal cancer, whereas a long duration of spot welding was associated with oral cancer. Welding was not associated with the risk of oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that welding and several welding-related tasks increase the risk of laryngeal cancer and to a lesser extent oral cancer.

Keywords: Epidemiology; case-contol study; head and neck; occupational health; tumor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

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