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Leukemia risk associated with low-level benzene exposure.
Deborah C Glass1, Christopher N Gray, Damien J Jolley
1Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Central and Eastern Clinical School, The Alfred Hospital, Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. deborah.glass@med.monash.edu.au
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)
|September 23, 2003
Summary
Occupational benzene exposure is linked to increased leukemia risk, even at lower levels than previously thought. This study found no safe threshold for cumulative benzene exposure in petroleum industry workers.
Area of Science:
- Occupational health
- Epidemiology
- Toxicology
Background:
- An Australian petroleum industry cohort showed excess lympho-hematopoietic cancer.
- Occupational benzene exposure is a suspected cause.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between benzene exposure and lympho-hematopoietic cancer risk.
- To examine leukemia risk in relation to cumulative and intensity of benzene exposure.
Main Methods:
- A nested case-control study within an existing cohort.
- Matched 79 leukemia cases (1981-1999) with 5 controls.
- Estimated benzene exposure using occupational histories and monitoring data.
Main Results:
- Leukemia risk increased with cumulative benzene exposure above 2 ppm-years and intensity over 0.8 ppm.
- Highest cumulative exposures ( > 8 ppm-years) showed an odds ratio of 11.3 for leukemia.
- No association found for non-Hodgkin lymphoma or multiple myeloma with benzene; no link to tobacco or alcohol.
Conclusions:
- Excess leukemia risk observed at lower benzene exposure levels than previously reported.
- No evidence of a safe threshold for cumulative benzene exposure was found.
- Findings suggest benzene exposure is a significant risk factor for leukemia in this cohort.