Occupational domains and age at onset of lung cancer diagnosis

Abstract

Introduction Occupational cancer is a major public health issue and continuous efforts are developed all around the world to find better solutions to decrease this prevalence. This is important in particular for the persons diagnosed earlier, as they might have different prognosis and health-related quality of life. Objectives The main objective of the study is to present the prevalence of the early diagnosed lung cancer in different activity domains and possible factors associated to a younger age recognition. Methods This is a secondary analysis of data collected during the ROMCAN project (reference/acknowledgements). From the whole data-base we have received only anonymized data concerning lung cancer. Age, gender, level of education, occupational domain, smoking, personal medical history, family history of cancer was included in the analysis. Based on the distribution of age in the whole sample, we considered the early diagnosis any diagnosis before 56 years of old; the others were considered the control group. Among the demographic factors only education seems to be of influence (χ2=31.24, p< 0.001). Family history was more prevalent in the earlier diagnosed group (OR=1.4, p=0.009). In terms of occupational domains, the highest prevalence at younger age was in the leather industry (57.14%), trade services (42.22%), extractive industry (34.62%) wood and furniture (34.48%) domains. Conclusions Occupational exposure to carcinogens contributes to the early development of lung cancer but other elements (smoking, socio-economic level, comorbidities), have also a significant role. Based on these results, awareness related to lung cancer in extractive, leather, wood manufactures and trade should be re-in forced.