Occupational exposure to diesel exhausts and risk for lung cancer in a population-based case-control study in Italy

We studied the effect of exposure to diesel exhausts on lung cancer risk in a population-based case-control study in the city of Turin, Italy.

Information on occupational histories of 595 incident lung cancer cases diagnosed in 1991-1992 and 845 population controls was obtained. During the interviews, diesel job-specific modules (D-JSMs) were administered whenever subjects had worked in occupations included in the following nine categories: railroad workers, miners, professional drivers and transport conductors, heavy-machine operators, mechanics and testers, filling station attendants, motor-vehicle park attendants, transport equipment operators, and occupations carried out in/near urban roads. All D-JSMs were evaluated for probability, intensity and frequency of exposure.

The odds ratio for ever exposure to diesel exhausts was 1.04 (95% confidence interval 0.79-1.37), after adjusting for age, sex, smoking and having worked in occupations entailing exposure to known lung carcinogens. No association was found with intensity, probability and duration of exposure.

Although misclassification of the exposure may have contributed to the negative results, we did not find an association between occupational exposure to diesel exhausts and lung cancer risk.