Bladder cancer rates rising in jobs exposed to carcinogens
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Bladder cancer rates are rising, especially among women, and occupational exposure to carcinogens may be responsible, according to a meta-analysis.
In the 1980s, an estimated 10 per cent of bladder cancers arose from occupational exposure. Workplace legislation should have reduced this rate, but whether this is the case remains to be seen, according to the researchers.
A team lead by James Catto, a doctor at the medical school at the University of Sheffield in England, investigated whether social and workplace legislative changes have altered the risk in looking at 263 contemporary reports of occupational exposure and bladder carcinogenesis in 1,254 occupations.
Compared with the general population, bladder cancer incidence rates were 16.6 times higher for factory workers, 13.4 times higher for hairdressers, and 11.8 times higher for aircraft/ship’s officers.
Bladder cancer mortality rates were 27.1 times higher for chemical workers and 8.3 times higher for dye workers.
