Article Text
Abstract
Objectives This work aims at assessing the risk of lung cancer associated with exposures to silica and cement dusts, which are among the most frequent occupational exposures for construction workers.
Methods ICARE is a large multicentre population-based case-control study conducted between 2001 and 2006 in 10 French départements with a general cancer registry. Complete occupational history was collected. The subjects’ exposures to silica and cement dusts were determined using two Job-Exposure Matrices (JEM) specific for these substances. We used unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age, department, number of job periods, lifelong cigarette smoking, and asbestos exposure (assessed using a third JEM).
Results Analyses were conducted among men (1885 cases, 2368 controls) and concerned 18788 jobs. We found significant associations between the risk of lung cancer and exposure to silica (OR for ever exposure = 1.5[1.2–1.8]) and cement dust (OR for ever exposure = 1.8[1.4–2.2]). For both substances, risks are increasing with duration and cumulative exposure.
Conclusions These results show a risk of lung cancer associated with exposures to silica and cement dust. Further analyses are ongoing to better understand their action in lung carcinogenesis.