Occupation and thyroid cancer

Abstract

Objectives Numerous occupational and environmental exposures have been shown to disrupt thyroid hormones, but much less is known about their relationships with thyroid cancer. Here we review the epidemiology studies of occupations and occupational exposures and thyroid cancer incidence to provide insight into preventable risk factors for thyroid cancer. Methods The published literature was searched using the Web of Knowledge database for all articles through August 2013 that had in their text “occupation” “job” ”employment” or “work” and “thyroid cancer”. After excluding 10 mortality studies and 4 studies with less than 5 exposed incident cases, we summarized the findings of 30 articles that examined thyroid cancer incidence in relation to occupations or occupational exposure. The studies were grouped by exposure/occupation category, study design, and exposure assessment approach. Where available, gender stratified results are reported. Results The most studied (19 of 30 studies) and the most consistent associations were observed for radiation-exposed workers and health care occupations. Suggestive, but inconsistent, associations were observed in studies of pesticide-exposed workers and agricultural occupations. Findings for other exposures and occupation groups were largely null. The majority of studies had few exposed cases and assessed exposure based on occupation or industry category, self-report, or generic (population-based) job exposure matrices. Conclusion The suggestive, but inconsistent findings for many of the occupational exposures reviewed here indicate that more studies with larger numbers of cases and better exposure assessment are necessary, particularly for exposures known to disrupt thyroid homeostasis.

Occupational exposure to pesticides and other biocides and risk of thyroid cancer

“…In a recent review of these studies, suggestive, but inconsistent, associations with thyroid cancer risk were observed in studies of pesticide-exposed workers, agricultural workers and agricultural occupations, but no consistent associations were observed for other chemical exposures 10. Our recent study suggested an increased risk of thyroid cancer associated with working as building cleaners and pest control workers 11…”

Re: Occupation and thyroid cancer

“…I was interested to read the recent review of occupation and thyroid cancer by Aschebrook-Kilfoy et al 1 I agree with their suggestion that a meta-analysis of occupational radiation exposure and thyroid cancer risk may be warranted. However, there are a couple of issues that would need detailed consideration as part of such an analysis.…”

“…Neither a study of cancer incidence in a large cohort of UK radiation workers2 nor some recent studies of thyroid cancer incidence among Chernobyl clean-up workers3 4 were included in the review,1 despite being available online prior to the cut-off date of August 2013.…”

Genetic and immune-toxicologic studies on abnormal thyroid functions in hospital employees exposed to cytostatic drugs

“…A különböző eredetű betegségek, így a pajzsmirigy-elváltozások kockázatát is, az egyéni adottságok (genetika) és az életmódbeli sajátosságok mellett [1,2,3], főleg a környezeti, táplálkozási szokások [4,5,6,7,8] és esetleg a munkahelyi ártalmak [9,10,11,12] együttesen hatá-rozzák meg. Jól ismert tény, hogy a munkahelyi sugárex-pozíció emeli a pajzsmirigy-megbetegedések számát [13,14,15,16], és a környezeti sugárzások már fi atal korban megemelik a pajzsmirigydaganatok esélyét, mint az a csernobili katasztrófát követően Ukrajnában megtörtént [17].…”