Risk factors for bladder cancer in a cohort exposed to aromatic amines

Abstract

Occupational and nonoccupational risk factors for bladder cancer were analyzed in a cohort of 1385 workers with known exposure to a potent bladder carcinogen, beta-naphthylamine. Bladder cancer was approximately seven times (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.9, 12.4) more likely in exposed rather than nonexposed individuals, yet, otherwise, the groups were generally similar in other exogenous or hereditary risk factors. A total of 13 cases of bladder cancer were identified. After the first year of a screening program involving 380 members of the cohort, 9 of the 13 cases of bladder cancer and 36 persons with atypical bladder cytology, histology, or pathology were compared with 335 noncases for distributions of different variables. Occupational variables were significant in a multivariate model that controlled for age, cigarette smoking history, and source of drinking water. The estimated odds ratio for the association for bladder cancer and the duration of employment, when controlling of these other variables, is 4.3 (95% CI = 1.8, 10.3). In addition to the occupational factors, age was significant in the multivariate analysis. Other potential risk factors, such as consumption of coffee or artificial sweeteners, use of phenacetin, or decreased use of vitamin A were not found to be significantly different in cases and noncases.

Underlying and multiple cause mortality in a cohort of workers exposed to aromatic amines

“…Other aromatic amines, including benzidine, were also used at the plant. Previous studies have also documented excess bladder cancer incidence among workers at the plant (relative risk ϭ 3.9 based on 13 cases; 95% confidence interval (CI) ϭ 2.2, 6.8) [Schulte et al, 1985a[Schulte et al, , 1986. The current study updates the mortality experience of these workers, adding 13 years of follow-up.…”

“…A detailed description of the Augusta, Georgia, cohort and the results of previous studies have been published elsewhere [Schulte et al, 1985a[Schulte et al, , b, 1986Schulte, 1989;Stern et al, 1985]. Briefly, the cohort consisted of all hourly employees who ever worked at the chemical company in Augusta, Georgia, between January 1, 1940, and December 31, 1972 (a total of 1,384 individuals).…”

Mortality of workers employed at organochlorine pesticide manufacturing plants--an update.

“…It should be noted, however, that, since this is a mortality analysis and bladder cancer survival has improved, a better estimate of the true risk would require an analysis of incident cases rather than deaths. In other studies of occupationally induced bladder cancer, mortality alone did not detect a risk, whereas overall incidence revealed large excess risks (13,14).…”

Cancer incidence among Finnish male cobalt production workers in 1969–2013: a cohort study

“…Only one bladder cancer patient was a non-smoker out of five cases with known smoking status. Occupationally, aromatic amines are known to cause bladder cancer as an occupational disease [24]. No one in this study group was known to have been exposed to aromatic amines.…”