Occupational exposures and the risk of ovarian cancer in Sweden.
BACKGROUND
Studies of occupational exposures and ovarian cancer, often limited by few subjects or proportionate mortality data, have yielded inconsistent results.


METHODS
Swedish women employed in 1960, 1970, or during both years were followed from 1971 to 1989 using census data linked to nationwide cancer and death registries. A total of 9,591 ovarian cancer cases were identified among 1,670,517 women. Poisson regression was used to estimate the relative risk of ovarian cancer in specific occupational groups and in women exposed to particular occupational exposures defined by job exposure matrices. We lacked data on reproductive factors.


RESULTS
Jobs associated with elevated ovarian cancer rates in this and previous studies include dry cleaning, telegraph and telephone work, paper packaging, and graphic and printing work. In contrast to results of some previous studies, we found that hairdressers and beauticians were not at increased risk of ovarian cancer. Organic dusts, aromatic amines, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons are suggested as specific etiologic agents.


CONCLUSIONS
In this large study, we have confirmed some results from smaller studies and identified some new relationships that need to be confirmed elsewhere.
Shields
Tammy
T
National Cancer Institute, Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7234, USA. shieldst@mail.nih.gov
Gridley
Gloria
G
Moradi
Tahere
T
Adami
Johanna
J
Plato
Nils
N
Dosemeci
Mustafa
M
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009790:Occupations; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology