Gliomas and exposure to wood preservatives

A case-referent study was undertaken to look for occupational risk factors among patients with glioma treated in a neurological hospital in Paris between 1975 and 1984. In the study group were 125 men with gliomas (aged less than or equal to 65) and 238 patients (also less than or equal to 65) admitted for non-neoplastic, non-malformative vascular diseases in the same department during the same period constituting the reference group. All diagnoses were confirmed by tomodensitometry. Information on occupational history was obtained from a postal questionnaire and from medical records. Comparison of cases and referents showed a significant excess risk among teachers (OR = 4.1) and a raised risk among wood workers (OR = 1.6). Four of nine cases of glioma who had been employed as wood workers reported that a colleague had suffered from glioma (those reports were confirmed by hospital records). None were reported among 11 referent wood workers. Using a complementary questionnaire on wood work, exposure assessment to wood preservatives and solvents showed that frequent exposure to organochlorine wood preservatives and to organic solvents occurred more often among cases than referent wood workers (p less than 0.10).