Brief Report

Increased lung cancer risk among bricklayers in an Italian population-based case–control study†

  1. Dario Consonni MD, MPH, PhD1,*,
  2. Sara De Matteis MD, MPH1,2,4,
  3. Angela C. Pesatori MD, MPH, PhD1,2,
  4. Andrea Cattaneo MSc, PhD3,
  5. Domenico M. Cavallo MSc, PhD2,3,
  6. Jay H. Lubin PhD4,
  7. Margaret Tucker MD4,
  8. Pier Alberto Bertazzi MD, MPH1,2,
  9. Neil E. Caporaso MD, PhD4,
  10. Sholom Wacholder PhD4,
  11. Maria Teresa Landi MD, PhD4

Article first published online: 1 FEB 2012

DOI: 10.1002/ajim.22017

Issue

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

Volume 55, Issue 5, pages 423–428, May 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Consonni, D., De Matteis, S., Pesatori, A. C., Cattaneo, A., Cavallo, D. M., Lubin, J. H., Tucker, M., Bertazzi, P. A., Caporaso, N. E., Wacholder, S. and Landi, M. T. (2012), Increased lung cancer risk among bricklayers in an Italian population-based case–control study. Am. J. Ind. Med., 55: 423–428. doi: 10.1002/ajim.22017

Author Information

  1. 1

    Unit of Epidemiology, Department of Preventive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy

  2. 2

    Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

  3. 3

    Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, Universitàà degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como, Italy

  4. 4

    Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland

*Unit of Epidemiology, Department of Preventive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via San Barnaba, 8 20122 Milan, Italy.

  1. †

    Disclosure Statement: None of the authors has financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interests. The work has been funded by governmental and state grants.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 13 APR 2012
  2. Article first published online: 1 FEB 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 8 JAN 2012

Funded by

  • Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Bethesda, MD, USA
  • Lombardy Region (Environmental Epidemiology Program), Milan, Italy
  • CARIPLO Foundation, Milan, Italy
  • Istituto Nazionale per l' Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, INAIL, Rome, Italy

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Keywords:

  • epidemiology;
  • occupational health;
  • case–control study;
  • pulmonary neoplasms;
  • construction industry

Abstract

Background

Bricklayers may be at increased risk of lung cancer, although a firm association has not been established. We examined this association within the EAGLE (Environment And Genetics in Lung cancer Etiology) study, a population-based case–control study conducted in Italy between 2002 and 2005.

Methods

For men in selected occupations in the construction sector we calculated smoking-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). For bricklayers we estimated the population attributable fraction (PAF) and the attributable community risk (ACR).

Results

We found increased lung cancer risk for bricklayers (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.12–2.21; 147 cases, 81 controls). The PAF was 3.9% (95% CI 0.7–7.0), corresponding to an ACR of 4.1 cases annually per 100,000 men (95% CI 0.7–7.3) in the whole community. Among bricklayers, there were increased risks for squamous cell (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.32–3.13, 56 exposed cases) and small cell carcinomas (OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.29–4.07, 21 exposed cases), while no excess (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.68–1.65, 41 exposed cases) was found for adenocarcinoma.

Conclusions

Our findings provide additional evidence of increased lung cancer risk in Italian bricklayers. The association is plausible because they are exposed to several carcinogens, notably crystalline silica. Am. J. Ind. Med. 55:423–428, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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