Occupational exposure to eight organic dusts and respiratory cancer among Finns

Aarne Laakkonen ^1*, Pentti Kyyrönen ², Timo Kauppinen ¹ and Eero I Pukkala ²

¹ Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland
² Finnish Cancer Registry, Finland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: aarne.laakkonen{at}kolumbus.fi.

Accepted 14 March 2006

Abstract

Background: There is inconclusive evidence concerning cancer risks of organic dusts. Aim: The carcinogenic exposures are mainly inhalatory, and we therefore studied associations between occupational exposure to eight different organic dusts and respiratory cancers in Finland. Methods: We followed up a cohort of all economically active Finns born between 1906 and 1945 for 30 million person years during 1971-1995. Incident cases of nasal, laryngeal and lung cancer and mesotheliomas were identified through a record linkage with the Finnish Cancer Registry. Occupations from the population census in 1970 were converted to exposures to eight organic dusts with a job-exposure matrix (FINJEM). Cumulative exposure (CE) was calculated as a product of prevalence, level and estimated duration of exposure. Standardised incidence ratios (SIR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for age, period and social class were calculated for each organic dust using the economically active population as the reference. Results: A total of 20426 incident cases of respiratory cancer were observed. A slightly elevated risk was observed among men exposed to wood dust for nasal cancer (SIR 1.42, CI 0.79-2.44). For laryngeal cancer, men exposed to plant dust (mainly grain millers) had an elevated SIR in the high exposure class (SIR 3.55, CI 1.30-7.72). Men exposed to wood dust had an elevated SIR for lung cancer, but only in the low exposure class (SIR 1.11, CI 1.04-1.18). Women exposed to wood dust showed an elevated SIR for mesotheliomas in the low exposure class (SIR 4.57, CI 1.25-11.7) and some excess in the medium exposure category. Conclusions: Exposure to organic dusts is unlikely to be a major risk factor for respiratory cancer. Even exposure to wood dust, which is a major exposure in Finland, seems to a have minor effect for nasal cancer. We found suggestive evidence that exposure to grain dust may elevate the risk of laryngeal cancer, and some support to the hypothesis that exposure to textile dust, and to plant and animal dust (i.e. agricultural dusts) may decrease the risk of lung cancer.

Keywords: cancer, job-exposure matrix, occupational exposure, organic dust

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