Estimated effects of hydrazine exposure on cancer incidence and mortality in aerospace workers

Animal studies suggest that hydrazine is a lung carcinogen, but human studies have been rare, rather small, and limited to cancer mortality.

We examined cancer mortality and incidence in a cohort of aerospace workers with varying exposure to hydrazine contained in rocket fuels-extending previous mortality follow-up from 1994 to 2001 and investigating cancer incidence for the period 1988-2000 using population-registry data. We newly estimated hydrazine effects adjusting for occupational exposures to other carcinogens assessed through a job-exposure matrix. Rate-ratio estimates were derived from Cox proportional hazards and random-effects models using time-dependent exposure measures for hydrazine adjusting for trichloroethylene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene, and mineral oil exposures.

Exposure to hydrazine was positively associated with lung cancer incidence (estimated rate ratio for high vs low exposure with 20-year lag = 2.5; 95% confidence interval = 1.3-4.9) and with colorectal cancer incidence (2.2; 1.0-4.6). Dose-response associations were observed for both outcomes; similar associations were found for lung cancer mortality but not for colorectal cancer mortality. Effect estimates for cancers of the pancreas, blood and lymph system, and kidneys were based on small numbers rendering our analyses uninformative, and patterns considering exposure levels and lags were inconsistent. Use of random-effect models did not change our results.

The findings reported here are consistent with our previous results for lung cancer mortality; our new results suggest that exposure to hydrazine increases the risk of incident lung cancers. We also found, for the first time, an increased risk of colon cancers. Results for other cancer sites are inconclusive.