Exposure to Benzene in a Pooled Analysis of Petroleum Industry Case-Control Studies

Autor: Thomas W. Armstrong, Gong Tang, Deborah Catherine Glass, A R Schnatter, Lesley Rushton
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
exposure assessment
Cumulative Exposure
DISTRIBUTION WORKERS
Cohort Studies
chemistry.chemical_compound
0302 clinical medicine
nested case-control study
Medicine
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Benzene
UNITED-KINGDOM
Public
Environmental & Occupational Health

RISK
PLIOFILM COHORT
cohort
030210 environmental & occupational health
Petroleum
1117 Public Health And Health Services
Hematologic Neoplasms
030220 oncology & carcinogenesis
Cohort
pooled analysis
Risk assessment
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Cohort study
Oil and Gas Industry
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Risk Assessment
CHINA
Environmental & Occupational Health
03 medical and health sciences
Occupational Exposure
Environmental health
Humans
Exposure assessment
LH cancer
Myeloproliferative Disorders
Science & Technology
business.industry
Public Health
Environmental and Occupational Health

Environmental engineering
Case-control study
chemistry
Case-Control Studies
Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Nested case-control study
business
LEUKEMIA
Environmental Sciences
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.5146345.v1
Popis: Cases of lymphohematopoietic cancer from three petroleum industry cohorts, matched to controls from the respective cohort, were pooled into single study. Average benzene exposure was quantitatively estimated in ppm for each job based on measured data from the relevant country, adjusted for the specific time period, site and job exposure characteristics and the certainty of the exposure estimate scored. The probability of dermal exposure and of peak exposure was also assessed. Before risk was examined, an exposure estimate comparison and rationalisation exercise was performed across the studies to ensure accuracy and consistency of approach. This article evaluates the final exposure estimates and their use in the risk assessments. Overall benzene exposure estimates were low: 90% of participants accumulated less than 20 ppm-years. Mean cumulative exposure was estimated as 5.15 ppm-years, mean duration was 22 years, and mean exposure intensity was 0.2 ppm. 46% of participants were allocated a peak exposure (>3 ppm at least weekly). 40% of participants had a high probability of dermal exposure (based on the relative probability of at least weekly exposure). There were differences in mean intensity of exposure, probability of peak, and/or dermal exposure associated with job category, job site, and decade of exposure. Terminal Operators handling benzene-containing products were the most highly exposed group, followed by Tanker Drivers carrying gasoline. Exposures were higher around 1940–1950 and lower in more recent decades. Overall confidence in the exposure estimates was highest for recently held jobs and for white-collar jobs. We used sensitivity analyses, which included and excluded case-sets on the basis of exposure certainty scores, to inform the risk assessment. The above analyses demonstrated that the different patterns of exposure across the three studies are largely attributable to differences in jobs, site types, and time frames rather than study. This provides reassurance that the previous rationalisation of exposures achieved inter-study consistency and that the data could be confidently pooled.
Databáze: OpenAIRE