Certain Occupations May Increase Lung Cancer Risk for Women

Previous studies have failed to identify the impact of specific job types or exposures on the risk of occupational lung cancer in women. Results of a study that sought to ascertain the role of occupation in the risk of SCLC and adenocarcinoma in Spanish women were presented at WCLC 2023 in Singapore.

Four multicenter, case-control studies conducted in Spain between 1992 and 2020 were pooled, consisting of 618 cases and 644 controls. Cases were subjects with incident lung cancer with histological confirmation (391 of which were adenocarcinoma and 122 of which were SCLC), and controls were subjects admitted to the hospital for non-lung cancer-related pathologies. Relevant information was collected via personal interviews, residential radon measurement, and a 3-mL sample of total blood. The dependent variable was the longest occupation held and was categorized using the International Standard Classification of Occupations. Logistic regressions were adjusted for adenocarcinoma and SCLC, with white collar workers as the reference category, and odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% CIs estimated were adjusted for age, tobacco consumption, and residential radon exposure.

Results from multivariate analysis among the adenocarcinoma cases showed a higher risk of lung cancer in women working in agriculture, farming, or gardening (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.0-4.2); housewives (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2-4.6); kitchen personnel (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.2-8.6); commerce (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.1-5.8); education (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 2.0-14.2); and domestic and cleaning staff (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.4-6.4) in comparison with white collar workers. However, among SCLC cases, the occupations that showed a higher risk of lung cancer were housewives (OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.2-19.4); kitchen personnel (OR, 8.1; 95% CI, 1.5-44.5); and education (OR, 8.0; 95% CI, 1.2-55.4).

The study authors concluded that, “while specific occupations were found to be associated with a higher risk of adenocarcinoma and SCLC, these did not entirely overlap. Further research is needed to better understand the impact of occupation on lung cancer risk in women.”

Source: Ravina AR, Candal-Pedreira C, Torres E, et al. Adenocarcinoma and small cell lung cancer risk associated with occupation in women. Abstract of a poster presented at the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer; September 9-12, 2023; Singapore.