Human Exposure to Poultry and Poultry Products and the Risk of Death from Hematopoietic & Lymphatic Cancers
Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary information on occupational exposures responsible for the excess of hematopoietic & lymphatic (H&L) cancers previously observed in cohort mortality studies of workers in poultry slaughtering and processing plants.Methods: A pilot case-cohort study was conducted nested within a combined cohort of 30,411 Short Communication poultry workers and 16,408 controls, identified from several United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) unions across the United States.Interviewed cases were 48 deaths out of a total of 130 deaths (37%) from H & L tumors that occurred in the cohort between 1990-2003.Controls were N=152 subjects that were successfully interviewed out of 1516 subjects (10%) randomly selected from all cohort members alive as of January 1, 1990.Telephone interviews were obtained directly from live control subjects or next-of-kin for deceased cases and controls.Mortality risk was assessed using logistic regression odds ratios and hazard ratios.Results: Poultry farming [OR=10.8(95% CI: 3.0-39.1)]and spreading chicken wastes as manure [OR=5.6 (95% CI: 1.5-20.4)]were significantly associated with lymphoma; handling raw eggs in supermarkets [OR=4.3(95% CI: 1.0-18.0)]was significantly associated with leukemia.Non-poultry exposures significantly associated with these tumors included coal by-products, selling seafood, and killing of pigs.Conclusion: This preliminary study identifies possible occupational exposures that may be associated with excess deaths from H & L tumors in poultry workers.Case-control studies of sufficient statistical power are now needed to confirm these findings and discover new ones.
Authors: S Bangara, N Preacely, M Felini, E Johnson
Language: English
Subfield: Cancer Research
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2626420580