[Latency: relevant element in the attribution, forecast, and prevention of occupational neoplasms]

The knowledge on latencies of occupational cancers is relevant as far as causal diagnosis, epidemiologic forecast and primary and secondary prevention are concerned. Literature mainly shows highly non specific data on tumour latencies. The widest burden of available data on occupational cancers relates to mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure. Data covering different cancers are scanty. The present review of available data anyway allows to set some values that can serve as a reference, even though major limitations are to be considered. In particular, still unanswered questions deal with the leading role of either the cancerogenic power of agents, or of the dose, the organ susceptibility, the cell doubling time of specific neoplasms, the role of confundings. Due to the high dispersion of the latency values reported for single tumour types, it is still questionable if mean or median values can be deemed reliable.