A nested case-control study of bladder cancer incidence in a steel manufacturing plant.
BACKGROUND
A surveillance study of bladder cancer incidence in northwestern Illinois detected a number of cases who had worked in a large steel manufacturing plant. To investigate these cancers further, a nested case-control study of bladder cancer was conducted at this plant.


METHODS
Cases from the surveillance study were matched to company personnel files. Four controls per case were selected from company files and frequency matched on age (cases and controls were all white males). Employment histories were abstracted from company records and odds ratios calculated according to job titles and departments worked. Cases and controls who held only white collar jobs were excluded from the analysis.


RESULTS
Results for 16 cases and 75 controls showed elevated odds ratios for heaters (OR = 21.1, 95% cCI = 2.2-205.8) based on three cases. Heaters monitored electric reheat furnaces and may have been exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Previous studies have shown moderate risks for bladder cancer among furnace operators, but most of these studies were also based on a small number of cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Additional studies of furnace operators' exposures and cancer risks are needed to investigate these results further.
Mallin
K
K
Division of Epidemiology-Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health 60612, USA.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008669:Metallurgy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013232:Steel / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015996:Survival Rate; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology
D013232:Steel