Case-control study of malignant melanoma among employees of the Lawrence Livermore national laboratory

Abstract

During 1972 to 1977, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) experienced increased diagnosis of malignant melanoma among employees. In 1984, a report on the results of a case‐control study of 39 cases concluded that occupational factors, including exposures to ionizing radiation and to chemicals, caused the excess incidence. The study reported here, based on results from 69 case‐control pairs, re‐examines the role of the occupational factors implicated by the earlier study in melanoma causation. Results from this study suggest that constitutional factors, including skin reactivity to sunlight, sunbathing frequency, and number of moles, explain most of the excess melanoma. Exposures to occupational factors, including ionizing radiation and chemicals, were found to be no different in cases than in controls. Am. J. Ind. Med. 32:377–391, 1997. Published 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Nonsolar occupational risk factors for cutaneous melanoma

“…Three case–control studies and a cohort study showed an increased risk for melanoma amongst subjects exposed to trichloroethylene 27–30 . A cohort study of Swedish biomedical research personnel showed an elevated cutaneous melanoma incidence in the female laboratory personnel exposed to solvents such as benzene and trichloroethylene 30 .…”

“…The studies considered in this review were generally of mixed exposure and, in all but three, 29,35,36 phenotype and sun exposure were not considered. Hardly any published studies observed a protective effect, as would have been expected by the chance findings from small studies.…”

Risk factors for cutaneous malignant melanoma among aircrews and a random sample of the population

“…[21][22][23][24][25] Of these, the studies on employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are of greatest interest. 22 23 25 26 All these studies except one 26 have shown an association between radiation exposure and malignant melanoma. The authors of that study describe matches on several exposure related variables, which may have influenced their results.…”

Melanoma Epidemiology and Prevention

“…Similarly, studies of chemical workers have also shown elevated risks of melanoma [171,179,224]. Cohort studies of electrical and electronics workers [146,203,220] along with at least one case-control study [179] have also shown elevated risks for melanoma.…”