Occupation and risk of cancer of the lower urinary tract among men. A case-control study

Abstract

Data from a hospital-based matched case-control study with 531 male pairs were analyzed for risks of cancer of the lower urinary tract associated with previous employment and particular occupational exposures. Statistically significant odds ratios were obtained for ever-employment as mining workers (2.0), turners (2.3), tailors (2.7), truck drivers (1.8), locomotive drivers (3.0) and janitors (3.5), whereas odds ratios of 3.0 or more, found for rubber and plastics workers, printing workers, gas workers, artists and chemists were not statistically significant. When adjusted for smoking, there was a trend toward increasing relative risks with increasing duration of employment as truck drivers and as turners, and relative risks rose 3-fold for 30 or more years of employment. With regard to a priori high-risk industries, ever-employment in the rubber, plastics and synthetics, dyestuff and paints, mining, and printing industries and secondary processing was associated with significantly higher relative risks, and a statistically significant trend in risk with increasing duration of employment was found for the first 3 industries mentioned. With regard to job-related exposures to specified substances, the relative risks observed for increasing duration of exposure suggest that exposures to petroleum, oils, chromium/chromate, spray paints, and zinc, which correspond to exposures involved in the occupations showing a higher relative risk in this study, are associated with a higher risk for cancer of the lower urinary tract.