Skip to main content
PMC home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 2005 May;62(5):318–324. doi: 10.1136/oem.2004.015883

Occupation and risk of stomach cancer in Poland

S Krstev 1, M Dosemeci 1, J Lissowska 1, W Chow 1, W Zatonski 1, M Ward 1
PMCID: PMC1741010  PMID: 15837853

Abstract

Background: In spite of the dramatic decline in the incidence of stomach cancer in the twentieth century, Poland has one of the highest rates in the world.

Aims: To evaluate the risk of stomach cancer by grouped occupations and industries, as well as by some specific occupational exposures.

Methods: Cases (n = 443) were newly diagnosed with stomach adenocarcinomas between 1994 and 1996. Controls (n = 479) were randomly selected from the general population in Warsaw.

Results: Only a few occupations and industries were associated with significantly increased risks of stomach cancer. The most suggestive finding was for work in the leather goods industry. Risk was also significantly increased among men working in fabricated metal production and among women ever employed as managers and governmental officials. Men ever employed as teaching professionals and women employed as technical and science professionals had significantly decreased risks of stomach cancer. Among men, a significant positive trend in risk with duration of employment was observed for work in the leather industry and special trade construction. No significantly increased risks were observed for specific exposures assessed by a job-exposure matrix or by self-reports. However among men there were non-significantly increased risks with 10 or more years exposure to asbestos, metal dust, and nitrosamines assessed by a job-exposure matrix.

Conclusions: Employment in the leather goods industry, special trade construction, and metal fabrication was associated with an increased risk of stomach cancer among men. However, there were only weak associations with specific exposures. Occupational exposures do not contribute substantially to the high rates of stomach cancer in Poland.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (79.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Albin M., Jakobsson K., Attewell R., Johansson L., Welinder H. Mortality and cancer morbidity in cohorts of asbestos cement workers and referents. Br J Ind Med. 1990 Sep;47(9):602–610. doi: 10.1136/oem.47.9.602. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aragonés N., Pollán M., Gustavsson P. Stomach cancer and occupation in Sweden: 1971-89. Occup Environ Med. 2002 May;59(5):329–337. doi: 10.1136/oem.59.5.329. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chow W. H., McLaughlin J. K., Malker H. S., Weiner J. A., Ericsson J. L., Stone B. J., Blot W. J. Occupation and stomach cancer in a cohort of Swedish men. Am J Ind Med. 1994 Oct;26(4):511–520. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700260408. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chow W. H., Swanson C. A., Lissowska J., Groves F. D., Sobin L. H., Nasierowska-Guttmejer A., Radziszewski J., Regula J., Hsing A. W., Jagannatha S. Risk of stomach cancer in relation to consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, tea and coffee in Warsaw, Poland. Int J Cancer. 1999 Jun 11;81(6):871–876. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19990611)81:6<871::aid-ijc6>3.0.co;2-#. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cocco P., Palli D., Buiatti E., Cipriani F., DeCarli A., Manca P., Ward M. H., Blot W. J., Fraumeni J. F., Jr Occupational exposures as risk factors for gastric cancer in Italy. Cancer Causes Control. 1994 May;5(3):241–248. doi: 10.1007/BF01830243. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cocco P., Ward M. H., Buiatti E. Occupational risk factors for gastric cancer: an overview. Epidemiol Rev. 1996;18(2):218–234. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a017927. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cocco P., Ward M. H., Dosemeci M. Occupational risk factors for cancer of the gastric cardia. Analysis of death certificates from 24 US states. J Occup Environ Med. 1998 Oct;40(10):855–861. doi: 10.1097/00043764-199810000-00004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cocco P., Ward M. H., Dosemeci M. Risk of stomach cancer associated with 12 workplace hazards: analysis of death certificates from 24 states of the United States with the aid of job exposure matrices. Occup Environ Med. 1999 Nov;56(11):781–787. doi: 10.1136/oem.56.11.781. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Correa P., Chen V. W. Gastric cancer. Cancer Surv. 1994;19-20:55–76. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Correa Pelayo. Gastric neoplasia. Curr Gastroenterol Rep. 2002 Dec;4(6):463–470. doi: 10.1007/s11894-002-0022-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Ekström A. M., Eriksson M., Hansson L. E., Lindgren A., Signorello L. B., Nyrén O., Hardell L. Occupational exposures and risk of gastric cancer in a population-based case-control study. Cancer Res. 1999 Dec 1;59(23):5932–5937. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Engel Lawrence S., Vaughan Thomas L., Gammon Marilie D., Chow Wong-Ho, Risch Harvey A., Dubrow Robert, Mayne Susan T., Rotterdam Heidrun, Schoenberg Janet B., Stanford Janet L. Occupation and risk of esophageal and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma. Am J Ind Med. 2002 Jul;42(1):11–22. doi: 10.1002/ajim.10077. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. González C. A., Sanz M., Marcos G., Pita S., Brullet E., Vida F., Agudo A., Hsieh C. C. Occupation and gastric cancer in Spain. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1991 Aug;17(4):240–247. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.1707. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kneller R. W., Gao Y. T., McLaughlin J. K., Gao R. N., Blot W. J., Liu M. H., Sheng J. P., Fraumeni J. F., Jr Occupational risk factors for gastric cancer in Shanghai, China. Am J Ind Med. 1990;18(1):69–78. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700180108. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lissowska J., Groves F. D., Sobin L. H., Fraumeni J. F., Jr, Nasierowska-Guttmejer A., Radziszewski J., Regula J., Hsing A. W., Zatonski W., Blot W. J. Family history and risk of stomach cancer in Warsaw, Poland. Eur J Cancer Prev. 1999 Jul;8(3):223–227. doi: 10.1097/00008469-199906000-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lissowska Jolanta, Gail Mitchell H., Pee David, Groves Frank D., Sobin Leslie H., Nasierowska-Guttmejer Anna, Sygnowska Elzbieta, Zatonski Witold, Blot William J., Chow Wong-Ho. Diet and stomach cancer risk in Warsaw, Poland. Nutr Cancer. 2004;48(2):149–159. doi: 10.1207/s15327914nc4802_4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Meyer M. B., Luk G. D., Sotelo J. M., Cohen B. H., Menkes H. A. Hypothesis: the role of the lung in stomach carcinogenesis. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1980 May;121(5):887–892. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1980.121.5.887. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Mirvish S. S. Role of N-nitroso compounds (NOC) and N-nitrosation in etiology of gastric, esophageal, nasopharyngeal and bladder cancer and contribution to cancer of known exposures to NOC. Cancer Lett. 1995 Jun 29;93(1):17–48. doi: 10.1016/0304-3835(95)03786-V. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Parent M. E., Siemiatycki J., Fritschi L. Occupational exposures and gastric cancer. Epidemiology. 1998 Jan;9(1):48–55. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Parkin D. M., Pisani P., Ferlay J. Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin. 1999 Jan-Feb;49(1):33-64, 1. doi: 10.3322/canjclin.49.1.33. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Pisani P., Parkin D. M., Bray F., Ferlay J. Estimates of the worldwide mortality from 25 cancers in 1990. Int J Cancer. 1999 Sep 24;83(1):18–29. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19990924)83:1<18::aid-ijc5>3.0.co;2-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Raj A., Mayberry J. F., Podas T. Occupation and gastric cancer. Postgrad Med J. 2003 May;79(931):252–258. doi: 10.1136/pmj.79.931.252. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Xu Z., Brown L. M., Pan G. W., Liu T. F., Gao G. S., Stone B. J., Cao R. M., Guan D. X., Sheng J. H., Yan Z. S. Cancer risks among iron and steel workers in Anshan, China, Part II: Case-control studies of lung and stomach cancer. Am J Ind Med. 1996 Jul;30(1):7–15. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0274(199607)30:1<7::AID-AJIM2>3.0.CO;2-#. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES