Occupational risks for bladder cancer among men in Sweden

Abstract

With the use of the Swedish Cancer-Environment Registry, census data on employment in 1960 were linked with registry data on bladder cancer during 1961-79. This hypothesis-generating study revealed for the first time associations between bladder cancer and employment in pulp and fiberboard manufacturing, in rope and twine making, and work as a dental technician. Statistically significant increases in risk were also found for several occupations previously associated with bladder cancer, including barbers and beauticians, artistic painters, toolmakers and machinists, and physicians, and employment in butcher shops, industrial chemical making, apparel manufacturing, and plumbing. Etiologic inferences cannot be made from this investigation, but the findings from this large national resource provide further clues to the occupational determinants of bladder cancer.