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Mortality among participants in a lead surveillance program
Ritam Chowdhury1, Stefanie Ebelt Sarnat2, Lyndsey Darrow1
1Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Environmental Research
|April 29, 2014
Summary
Adult lead exposure is linked to increased lung cancer mortality. Higher blood lead levels showed a significant positive trend with lung cancer risk in a large study of men.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Environmental Epidemiology
- Toxicology
Background:
- Adult lead exposure is associated with increased cancer risk.
- The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies lead as a 'probable' carcinogen.
- Previous studies suggest links primarily to stomach and lung cancers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between blood lead levels and cancer mortality in men.
- To examine lung cancer risk in relation to different categories of blood lead concentration.
Main Methods:
- A mortality study was conducted on 58,368 men in a lead surveillance program across 11 states.
- Participants were categorized by their highest blood lead (BL) test results.
- Median follow-up was 12 years, with analyses accounting for a healthy worker effect.
Main Results:
- A significant positive trend was observed between increasing blood lead levels and lung cancer risk (RR=2.79 in the highest category, p<0.0001).
- Elevated standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for lung and larynx cancers were found in the highest blood lead category.
- No significant excesses in other cause-specific SMRs were detected.
Conclusions:
- Blood lead level is associated with lung cancer mortality.
- Limitations include lack of detailed work history and smoking data, though analyses suggest smoking differences are unlikely to explain the trend.
- Reliance on limited blood lead tests and varying follow-up durations were also noted limitations.
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