Table 3

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and lung cancer risk

PAH exposure	Exposure category	Central and Eastern Europe						UK
PAH exposure	Exposure category	Cases	%	Controls	%	OR*	95% CI	Cases	%	Controls	%	OR*	95% CI
Occupational PAH exposure	Never‡	2274	86.7	2391	88.9	1.00	Reference	166	72.8	192	82.4	1.00	Reference
Occupational PAH exposure	Ever	350	13.3	299	11.1	0.93	0.77 to 1.14	62	27.2	41	17.6	1.97	1.16 to 3.35
Maximum intensity to PAH (μg/m³)	0.05–0.1	194	7.4	197	7.3	0.82	0.65 to 1.04	37	16.2	23	9.9	2.12	1.12 to 4.00
	0.1–1	116	4.4	83	3.1	1.17	0.84 to 1.64	14	6.1	14	6.0	1.42	0.57 to 3.52
	1–5	40	1.5	19	0.7	1.11	0.60 to 2.05	11	4.8	4	1.7	2.68	0.74 to 9.77
						0.54†						0.15†
Cumulative PAH exposure	<0.04	68	2.6	78	2.9	0.73	0.50 to 1.06	23	10.1	15	6.4	1.79	0.82 to 3.90
	<0.15	82	3.1	68	2.5	0.99	0.69 to 1.44	14	6.1	11	4.7	1.68	0.67 to 4.20
	<0.77	79	3.0	73	2.7	0.89	0.62 to 1.29	11	4.8	8	3.4	2.14	0.75 to 6.11
	≥0.77	121	4.6	80	3.0	1.13	0.80 to 1.58	14	6.1	7	3.0	2.77	0.94 to 8.11
						0.93†						0.01†
Years exposed to PAH	<5	96	3.7	83	3.1	0.90	0.64 to 1.26	20	8.8	18	7.7	1.30	0.60 to 2.82
	6–10	66	2.5	54	2.0	1.12	0.75 to 1.68	13	5.7	11	4.7	1.40	0.55 to 3.58
	11–20	63	2.4	66	2.4	0.76	0.51 to 1.13	18	7.9	2	0.9	15.11	3.05 to 74.89
	21–30	59	2.2	48	1.8	0.94	0.60 to 1.47	5	2.2	7	3.0	1.18	0.32 to 4.23
	30+	66	2.5	48	1.8	1.02	0.66 to 1.57	6	2.6	3	1.3	3.60	0.73 to 17.80
						0.61†						0.004†

↵* ORs are adjusted for centre (in CEE), sex, age, tobacco pack-years, silica, asbestos, arsenic, chromium and cadmium.
↵† Test for linear trend, p value.
↵‡ Referent group for all analyses shown in the table.