A case‐control study of skin cancer in the tire and rubber manufacturing industry

Abstract

A case-control study was conducted in the tire and rubber manufacturing industry to examine the association of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin with rubber manufacturing materials presumed to be contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Sixty-five cases were compared to 254 matched controls for exposure to carbon black, extender oils, lubricating oils, rubber solvents, and rubber stock. Both magnitude and duration of exposure were compared using data from company personnel records. Rubber stock and lubricating oils were associated with skin cancer. The relative risk (RR) associated with the highest levels of rubber stock exposure was 2.2, and with the highest level of lubricating oil exposure it was 6.5. In analysis of subgroups of study members, the associations were strongest among workers who were born after 1900 (rubber stock, RR = 11.6; lubricating oil, RR = 4.5) and among workers whose skin cancer was diagnosed before the age of seventy (rubber stock, RR = 23.2; lubricating oil, RR = 28.3).

Cancer incidence and mortality in a Swedish rubber tire manufacturing plant

“…Decreased risks of this cancer form have been reported earlier [Sathiakumar et al, 1998;Straughan and Sorahan, 2000] but also a positive association between work in the rubber industry and skin cancer has been reported [Kogevinas et al, 1998] and this risk has in one study been associated with exposure to rubber stock and lubricating oils [Bourguet et al, 1987].…”

Occupation and keratinocyte cancer risk: a population-based case–control study

“…Only coal dust was associated with an elevated risk of BCC [6]. Further, an elevated SCC risk was detected in a small case-control study of workers in the tire and rubber manufacturing industry (65 SCC cases and 254 controls) who were exposed to rubber materials that may have contained PAHs [11]. Our findings of elevated BCC risk among truck drivers, roofers, and men employed at garages and service stations are consistent with occupational PAH exposure as a possible contributor.…”

“…Occupations associated with a statistically significant elevation in BCC or SCC risk or a non-significant increase with a relative risk estimate ‡1.3 were identified as a priori high-risk occupations. Occupations that met our criteria as a priori high-risk for men included roofers and highway maintenance/road workers [11] for both BCC and SCC (or for KC of unspecified histology); carpenters and joiners [9] for BCC only; and wood impregnators for SCC only [13]. If an occupation was identified as high-risk for BCC or SCC only, we included it in the a priori analysis for both BCC and SCC.…”

“…In cohort and case-control studies, excess risks of KC (without specification of cell type) were identified among farmers, woodworkers, carpenters and joiners, outdoor and road workers [8][9][10]; of SCC among fishermen, wood impregnators, hairdressers, and rubber manufacturing employees [11][12][13][14]; and of BCC among hairdressers [12]. As the assessment of occupation may help to illuminate the etiology of keratinocyte cancer, we investigated whether specific occupations were associated with risk of BCC and SCC in a population-based case-control study conducted in New Hampshire.…”

Cancer risk in the rubber industry: a review of the recent epidemiological evidence.

“…We did not include unpublished data and studies reported only as abstracts. We identified 12 cohort studies from nine countries examining distinct populations of workers in the rubber industry [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] ; seven nested casecontrol studies in this industry [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] ; 48 distinct community based case-control studies from 16 countries that used questionnaire data and reported risks for employment in the rubber industry ; and finally, 23 studies based on administrative data -such as death certificates, cancer registration, or linkage between census and cancer registry-that presented results by industry or occupation pertinent to assess the risk of cancer among rubber workers. Some of the studies reviewed are updates or more specific investigations of previously reported cohorts.…”