Air Quality Criteria for Lead Volume II of II - (NEPIS)(EPA) - US ...

AX6-187
Table AX6-7.2 (cont’d). Key Occupational Studies of Lead Exposure and Cancer
Reference, Study
Location, and Period Study Description Pb Measurement Findings and Interpretation
United States (cont’d)
Wong and Harris
(2000)
U.S.
1947-1995.
(Nested in Wong and
Harris 200 cohort.)
Europe
Fanning (1988)
(Cases overlap those
occurring in
Dingwall-Fordyce and
Lane, 1963; and
Malcolm and Barnett,
1982).
U.K.
1926-1985
Case-control design.
Cases: the 30 stomach cancer cases
occurring in a Philadelphia Pb battery
plant.
Controls: 120 age-matched cohort
members.
Mean exposure was compared for
cases vs. controls. Odds of exposure
were also computed for increasing
quartiles of cumulative exposure.
Proportional mortality/cohort design.
Subjects: 2,073 deceased males
identified through pension records of
Pb battery and other factory workers in
the U.K.
Workers dying from a specific cancer
were compared with workers dying
from all other causes
Job titles were used to classify Pb
exposure as low, intermediate, or
high; total mos of any exposure, of
intermediate or high exposure only,
and of cumulative exposure, with
mos weighted by 1, 2, or 3 if spent in
low-, intermediate-, or high-exposure
job.
Workers were classified as High or
moderate Pb exposure vs. little or no
exposure based on job titles.
Mean mos of employment, of intermediate or high exposure, or of
weighted exposure to Pb were all nonsignificantly lower among
cases.
OR for cumulative weighted exposure in the 10 yrs prior to death:
1st quartile 1.00
2nd quartile 0.62
3rd quartile 0.82
4th quartile 0.61
p for trend = 0.47; ORs showed no positive association with
any index of exposure.
Analyses appear uncontrolled for smoking, other occupational
exposures, or other risk factors.
OR (95% CI); number of deaths
Lung cancer: 0.93 (0.8, 1.1); 76
Stomach cancer: 1.34; 31
No associations for other cancer types; elevations in stomach and
total digestive cancers limited to the period before 1966.