HAIRY-CELL LEUKEMIA, OCCUPATION, AND SMOKING

The roles of farm practices, occupational exposures to organic solvent s, and ionizing radiation in the risk of hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) me re examined in a French hospital-based multicentre case-control study including 291 cases (229 men and 62 women) and 541 controls (425 men a nd 116 women). No positive association was observed with occupations i nvolving exposure to organic solvents or with self-declared exposures to solvents, but a significant association with self-reported exposure to petrol or diesel was found for men (OR = 1.5 CI95% [1.0-2.1]). No association with ionizing radiation was detected. Agriculture employme nt gave an odds ratio of 1.7 (CI95% [1.1-2.4]) for men and 2.7 (CI95% [1.1-6.7]) for women. Among men, the association seems to affect farme rs rather than agricultural workers. Self-declared exposure to pestici des or bovine cattle breeding was related to HCL risk in both genders, Finally, a significant negative association with smoking was observed in men, with an inverse exposure-risk relationship odds ratios of 0.6 , 0.5 and 0.2, respectively, for cumulative consumptions of <10, 10-23 and greater than or equal to 24 pack-years), contrasting with an odds ratios clearly >1 in women.