Increased Risk of Gastric Cancer in Asbestos-Exposed Workers: A Retrospective Cohort Study Based on Taiwan Cancer Registry 1980–2015

Yi-Jen Fang, Hung-Yi Chuang, Chih-Hong Pan, Yu-Yin Chang, Yawen Cheng, Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn Lee and Jung- Der Wang
Additional contact information
Yi-Jen Fang: Ph.D. Program in Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University and National Health Research Institutes, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Hung-Yi Chuang: Ph.D. Program in Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University and National Health Research Institutes, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Chih-Hong Pan: Institute of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Labor, New Taipei City 221, Taiwan
Yu-Yin Chang: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County 350, Taiwan
Yawen Cheng: Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan
Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn Lee: Ph.D. Program in Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University and National Health Research Institutes, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Jung- Der Wang: Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-9

Abstract: Asbestos has been recognized as a human carcinogen associated with malignant mesothelioma, cancers of lung, larynx, and ovary. However, a putative association between gastric cancer and asbestos exposure remains controversial. In this study, we aimed to explore gastric cancer risk of workers potentially exposed to asbestos in Taiwan. The asbestos occupational cohort was established from 1950 to 2015 based on the Taiwan Labor Insurance Database, and Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency regulatory datasets, followed by the Taiwan Cancer Registry for the period 1980–2015. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for cancer were computed for the whole cohort using reference rates of the general population, and also reference labor population. Compared with the general population, SIR of the asbestos occupational cohort for the gastric cancer increased both in males (1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02–1.09) and females (1.10, 95% CI: 1.01–1.18). A total of 123 worksites were identified to have cases of malignant mesothelioma, where increased risk for gastric cancer was found with a relative risk of 1.76 (95% CI: 1.63–1.90). This 35-year retrospective cohort study of asbestos-exposed workers in Taiwan may provide support for an association between occupational exposure to asbestos and gastric cancer.

Keywords: asbestos; gastric cancer; malignant mesothelioma; occupational cancer; standardized incidence ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7521/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7521/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7521-:d:594582

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().