Bck. Choi et al., APPLICATION OF URINARY MUTAGEN TESTING TO DETECT WORKPLACE HAZARDOUS EXPOSURE AND BLADDER-CANCER, Mutation research. Genetic toxicology testing, 341(3), 1995, pp. 207-216
The objectives of this biochemical epidemiologic case-control study we
re to evaluate urinary mutagen testing for occupational exposure asses
sment, and for possible screening for bladder cancer in the workplace.
Thirty-seven patients (19 bladder cancer cases and 18 controls) compl
eted a questionnaire. Two urine samples, i.e. a work sample taken whil
e at work, and a home sample, were requested from each patient. Twenty
-six patients (17 cases and 9 controls) gave a total of 47 24-h urine
samples for mutagenicity testing by the Ames test. A positive Ames tes
t was found to be associated significantly with current occupation wit
h hazardous exposure (odds ratio = 3.7, 95%CI 1.1-12.9), and non-signi
ficantly with bladder cancer (odds ratio = 1.8, 95%CI 0.5-7.1). Our re
sults show that the urinary Ames test has the potential of being used
as a surveillance for current workplace hazardous exposure (sensitivit
y = 52%, specificity = 77%, positive predictive value = 72%, negative
predictive value = 59%, positive likelihood ratio = 2.3), but not as a
screening test for bladder cancer cases (sensitivity = 42%, specifici
ty = 71%, positive predictive value = 3%, negative predictive value =
98%, positive likelihood ratio = 1.5).