Wood dust exposure and risk of lung cancer

Abstract

Objectives Despite the compelling association between wood dust and sinonasal cancer, there has been little systematic and rigorous study of the relationship between wood dust and lung cancer. We investigated whether a history of exposure to wood dust through occupational and hobby-related activities was associated with increased lung cancer risk. Methods We conducted a population-based case-control study, with 440 cases, identified from 1993 to 1996 through the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Cancer Surveillance System for western Washington State, and 845 age-matched controls, identified by random-digit dialing. Using detailed work and personal histories, quantitative estimates of cumulative exposure to wood dust (thought to be primarily from softwood) were calculated for each participant. Using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age and smoking status, risk of lung cancer was examined in relation to employment in wood-related occupations, working with wood as a hobby, as well as cumulative wood dust exposure that took into account both occupational and hobby-related sources. Results While we observed an increased risk of lung cancer associated with working in a sawmill (OR=1.5; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.1), we found no evidence of increased risks with other occupations, working with wood as a hobby or with estimated cumulative exposure to wood dust (OR = 0.9; 95% CI: 0.6, 1.3, for highest compared to lowest quartile of exposure). Contrary to our hypothesis, we observed modest non-significant decreased risks with exposure to wood dust, although no dose-response relationship was apparent. Conclusions This study provided somewhat reassuring evidence that softwood dust does not increase the risk of lung cancer, but future studies should closely evaluate exposure to hardwood dusts. Suggestive evidence for an inverse association may be attributable to the presence of endotoxin in the wood dust, but the lack of a dose-response relationship suggests a non-causal relationship.

Impact of smoking on multiple primary cancers survival: a retrospective analysis

“…Ferlay et al demonstrated that 15-25% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer had never smoked [35]. However, it was also revealed that in developed countries characterized with a high proportion of smokers about 90% of lung cancers were tobacco-related [18]. Differences between these reports and our results may stem from the fact that patients from the Warmia and Mazury Voivodeship are hospitalized in our center.…”

“…[15][16][17][18]. Patients with lung cancer diagnosed as the last malignancy were termed as 'final lungs,' and those whose last detected malignancy was different from lung cancer were assigned to the group of 'non-final lungs.…”

Wood dust exposure and lung cancer risk: a meta-analysis

“…Five additional studies were excluded for presenting data that could not be dichotomised into ever versus never exposure 116–120. Forty studies5 30 34–36 38 40 42–44 50–54 60 62 64 65 67 69 70 73–76 86 90 91 93 96 97 99 100 102 105 106 110 113 115 were rated as having a low risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (see online supplementary table S1).…”

Risk Factors for Lung Cancer in the Pakistani Population

“…Exposure to welding fumes at work place (Mannetje et al, 2012), cooking fumes (Yin et al, 2013), sedentary living (Yang et al, 2003), family history (Cote et al, 2012), exposure to wood dust (Bhatti et al, 2011), alcoholism (Bagnardi et al, 2010) and asbestos exposure (Markowitz et al, 2013) has also been reported in Caucasian, American, African and Asian populations as positive risk factors of lung cancer. But high OR value of 2.5 in Pakistani population for welding fumes in present study is higher than any other parts of the world.…”