Acute leukemia in professional drivers exposed to gasoline and diesel

The environmental exposure to the petroleum products gasoline, diesel, and their motor exhausts was studied in a case-control interview of 125 patients with acute leukemia and 1 matched control per patient. Odds ratios were calculated by comparing discordant matched patient-control pairs. An excess risk for developing acute leukemia was found for the professional drivers, and odds ratio was determined to be 3.0 (95% CI: 1.1-9.2/p less than or equal to 0.02). For those who were exposed for more than 5 years in their life-time, or more than 1 yr during the 5-20 yr period prior to diagnosis, the odds ratio was 5.0 (p less than 0.05). This finding remains after consideration is given to exposures to organic solvents, smoking and therapeutic x-ray treatment. No excess risk was observed for persons professionally exposed to motor oil and machine oil without exposure to fuels and exhausts. No preferential type of acute leukemia was found to be associated with exposure to fuels and their exhausts. The results indicate an etiological relationship between the development of acute leukemia and exposure to petroleum products as fuels and exhaust.