Abstract
The relation of mining and smelting exposure to arsenic and lung cancer was studied among tin miners in Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China. Interviews were conducted in 1985 with 107 living tin miners who had lung cancer and an equal number of age matched controls from among tin miners without lung cancer to obtain information on risk factors for lung cancer including detailed history of employment and tobacco use. Occupational history was combined with industrial hygiene data to estimate cumulative arsenic exposure. Similar methods were also used to estimate radon exposure for simultaneous evaluation in this analysis. The results indicate that subjects in the highest quarter of cumulative arsenic exposure have a relative risk of 22.6 compared with subjects without exposure after adjusting for tobacco and radon exposure, and a positive dose response relation was observed. Simultaneous evaluation of arsenic and tobacco exposure indicates a greater risk for arsenic, whereas simultaneous assessment of arsenic and radon exposure suggests radon to be the greater risk. There is no evidence of synergism between arsenic and tobacco exposure. Among arsenic exposed individuals, cases of lung cancer have longer duration but lower average intensity of arsenic exposure than controls, indicating that duration of exposure to arsenic may be more important than intensity in the aetiology of lung cancer. Finally, risk of lung cancer among workers exposed to arsenic only in mining is only slightly less than for miners whose exposure to arsenic was limited to smelting, although risks are highest when workers were exposed to both mining and smelting.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Archer V. E. Lung cancer risks of underground miners: cohort and case-control studies. Yale J Biol Med. 1988 May-Jun;61(3):183–193. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Axelson O., Dahlgren E., Jansson C. D., Rehnlund S. O. Arsenic exposure and mortality: a case-referent study from a Swedish copper smelter. Br J Ind Med. 1978 Feb;35(1):8–15. doi: 10.1136/oem.35.1.8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Enterline P. E., Henderson V. L., Marsh G. M. Exposure to arsenic and respiratory cancer. A reanalysis. Am J Epidemiol. 1987 Jun;125(6):929–938. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114631. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lee A. M., Fraumeni J. F., Jr Arsenic and respiratory cancer in man: an occupational study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1969 Jun;42(6):1045–1052. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- OSBURN H. S. Cancer of the lung in Gwanda. Cent Afr J Med. 1957 Jun;3(6):215–223. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Osburn H. S. Lung cancer in a mining district in Rhodesia. S Afr Med J. 1969 Oct 25;43(43):1307–1312. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pershagen G., Wall S., Taube A., Linnman L. On the interaction between occupational arsenic exposure and smoking and its relationship to lung cancer. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1981 Dec;7(4):302–309. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.2544. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pinto S. S., Enterline P. E., Henderson V., Varner M. O. Mortality experience in relation to a measured arsenic trioxide exposure. Environ Health Perspect. 1977 Aug;19:127–130. doi: 10.1289/ehp.7719127. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pinto S. S., Henderson V., Enterline P. E. Mortality experience of arsenic-exposed workers. Arch Environ Health. 1978 Nov-Dec;33(6):325–331. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1978.10667356. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rencher A. C., Carter M. W., McKee D. W. A retrospective epidemiological study of mortality at a large western copper smelter. J Occup Med. 1977 Nov;19(11):754–758. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]