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

AX6-190
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
Europe (cont’d)
Lundström et al.
(1997)
(follow-up of
Gerhardsson et al.
(1986)
(see also subcohort
analyses of Englyst
et al., 2001).
Sweden
1928-1987
Englyst et al. (2001)
(follow-up and subanalysis
of Lundström
et al., 1997).
Sweden
1928-1987
Cohort design.
3,979 copper and Pb smelter workers.
Standardized mortality and incidence
ratios were computed for workers
compared with age-, yr-, gender-, and
county-specific rates for the general
population.
Nested cohort analysis.
Limited to 1,093 workers in the
smelter’s Pb department, followed
through 1997.
Incidence was compared with county
rates; age-specific SIRs with 15-yr lag.
For some analyses, the entire cohort
was treated as exposed. For others,
job histories were used to single out
1,992 workers belonging to
departments thought to be exposed to
“Pb only.” Mean blood Pb
monitoring test results across time
were used to single out a “highly
exposed” group of 1,026 workers
with blood Pb levels ≥10 µmol/L
[≥207 µg/dL].
Mean blood Pb 60 µg/dL in 1959.
Workers were divided into
Subcohorts I and II for ever and
never worked in areas generally
associated with exposure to arsenic
or other known carcinogens (701 and
383 workers, respectively).
Detailed individual assessment of
arsenic exposure was made for all
lung-cancer cases.
SMR (95% CI); number of deaths
Lung:
Total cohort 2.8 (2.0, 3.8); 39
Highly exposed 2.8 (1.8, 4.5); 19
SIR (95% CI); number of cases
Lung with 15-yr lag:
Total cohort 2.9 (2.1, 4.0); 42
Highly exposed 3.4 (2.2, 5.2); 23
Pb-only 3.1 (1.7, 5.2); 14
Pb-only highly exposed 5.1 (2.0, 10.5); 7
Other highly exposed (total cohort), with 15-yr lag:
Brain 1.6 (0.4, 4.2); 4
Renal pelvis, ureter, bladder 1.8 (0.8, 3.4); 9
Kidney 0.9 (0.2, 2.5); 3
All cancer 1.1 (0.9, 1.4); 83
No control for smoking.
SIR (95% CI); number of cases
Subcohort I (coexposed):
Lung 2.4 (1.2, 4.5); 10
Subcohort II (not coexposed):
Lung 3.6 (1.2, 8.3); 5
Subjects with lung cancer found to have history of “considerable”
exposure to arsenic: 9/10 among Subcohort I, 4/5 among
Subcohort II.
No control for smoking.