Cancer incidence among swedish brewery workers

✍ Scribed by John M. Carstensen; Lars Olov Bygren; Thomas Hatschek

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 424 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910450302

✦ Synopsis

In order to examine the risks of cancer, particularly of rectal cancer, among Swedish brewery workers, 6,230 men employed in the brewery industry in 1960 were followed-up during 1961-79 by the Swedish Cancer Registry. Using all Swedish men as a reference group, relative risks (RR) were computed with standardization for year of birth, year of follow-up, and geographic region. A total of 712 new cases of cancer were observed compared to 570.7 expected (p < 0.001). Significantly increased risks were seen for several cancer sites, e.g. esophagus (RR = 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = I .5-3.8). rectum (RR = I .7, CI = I .3-2.3), pancreas (RR = 1.7, CI = 1.2-2.3), and lung(RR = 1.4, CI = 1.1-1.7). An excess risk of liver cancer was almost significant (p = 0.053, RR = I .7, CI = I .&2.8). The risk of colon cancer was not significantly increased (RR = 1.2, CI = 0.9-l.S), and the difference between the relative risk of colon cancer and that of rectum cancer was nearly significant (p = 0.07). Our results support the hypothesis that high beer consumption is associated with an increased risk of rectal cancer.