Skip Navigation


Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on September 25, 2007
Annals of Oncology 2008 19(1):29-43; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdm202
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/1/29    most recent
mdm202v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bosetti, C.
Right arrow Articles by La Vecchia, C.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bosetti, C.
Right arrow Articles by La Vecchia, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2007 European Society for Medical Oncology. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

reviews

Formaldehyde and cancer risk: a quantitative review of cohort studies through 2006

C. Bosetti1,*, J. K. McLaughlin2,3, R. E. Tarone2,3, E. Pira4 and C. La Vecchia1,3,5

1 Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’, Milan, Italy
2 International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, MD
3 Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN, USA
4 Dipartimento di Traumatologia, Ortopedia e Medicina del Lavoro, Università di Torino, Turin
5 Istituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

* Correspondence to: Dr C. Bosetti, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’, Via Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy. Tel: +39 02-39014526; Fax: +39 02-33200231; E-mail: bosetti{at}marionegri.it

Background: Occupational exposure to formaldehyde has been associated with excess risk of nasopharyngeal and selected other cancers.

Patients and methods: We reviewed and pooled the results of cohort studies published through February 2007.

Results: There were 5651 deaths from all cancers observed in six cohorts of industry workers and six of professionals, with a pooled relative risk (RR) of 0.95 for industry workers and of 0.87 for professionals. Nine deaths from nasopharyngeal cancer in three cohorts of industry workers yielded a pooled RR of 1.33, which declined to 0.49 after excluding six cases from one US plant. The pooled RR for lung cancer was 1.06 in industry workers and 0.63 in professionals. Corresponding values were 1.09 and 0.96 for oral and pharyngeal, 0.92 and 1.56 for brain, 0.85 and 1.31 for all lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers, and 0.90 and 1.39 for leukemia.

Conclusions: Comprehensive review of cancer in industry workers and professionals exposed to formaldehyde shows no appreciable excess risk for oral and pharyngeal, sinonasal or lung cancers. A non-significantly increased RR for nasopharyngeal cancer among industry workers is attributable to a cluster of deaths in a single plant. For brain cancer and lymphohematopoietic neoplasms there were modestly elevated risks in professionals, but not industry workers.

Key words: formaldehyde, neoplasm, occupational exposure, review, risk assessment

Received for publication November 9, 2006. Revision received March 29, 2007. Accepted for publication April 18, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.