Cancer mortality among workers in formaldehyde industries

Cancer mortality among workers in formaldehyde industries Pages 608-608 M. Hauptmann, J.H. Lubin, P.A. Stewart, R.B. Hayes, A. Blair Close Preview Purchase PDF (43 K) | Related Articles AbstractAbstract Purpose Formaldehyde exposure has been inconsistently associated in industrial workers with cancer of the nasal cavities, nasopharynx, prostate, lung, and pancreas. Increased risks for leukemia and brain cancer have been found in medical workers and other professionals exposed to formaldehyde. Animals exposed to formaldehyde show excesses of nasal cancer. We evaluated these associations in an updated follow-up of the largest cohort to date of formaldehyde-exposed workers. Methods We evaluated quantitative estimates of formaldehyde exposure (peak exposure, average exposure intensity, cumulative exposure, and duration of exposure) and cancer mortality (2099 deaths) among 25,619 workers (865,708 person-years) employed in 10 U.S. formaldehyde-producing or -using facilities through 1995 using relative risks (RR) based on Poisson regression. Results The RRs for nasopharyngeal cancer (9 deaths) increased with average exposure intensity, cumulative exposure, highest peak exposure, and duration of exposure to formaldehyde (Ptrend = 0.066, 0.025, <0.001, and 0.147, respectively). No clear associations with formaldehyde exposure were seen for cancers of the lung (744 deaths), pancreas (93 deaths), brain (62 deaths), or prostate (145 deaths), although RRs for prostate cancer were elevated for some measures of formaldehyde exposure. RRs for leukemia (69 deaths), particularly for myeloid leukemia (30 deaths), increased with peak exposure (Ptrend = 0.009) and average exposure intensity (Ptrend = 0.088). RRs for leukemia were not associated with cumulative exposure; they were weakly associated with duration of exposure. Conclusion In the extended follow-up of this cohort of formaldehyde industry workers, we found an exposure–response relationship with mortality from leukemia, particularly myeloid leukemia, and cancer of the nasopharynx, but no clear association with cancers of the pancreas, brain, lung, or prostate.