Occupational cancer among women: Research status and methodologic consideration

Occupational causes of cancer have not been well-evaluated among women. An increase in the number of women in the workforce in jobs with potentially h azardous exposures during the past few decades raises the question as to wh ether there is a need to enhance our efforts in this area. The inability to evaluate occupational causes of female gynecologic tumors in studies of me n, plus the potential for variation in outcome responses between men and wo men because of gender-based exposure and susceptibility differences, unders core the need for investigations specifically focused on women. Investigati ons of occupational exposures and cancer risk among women may require desig n considerations that differ somewhat from studies of men. Issues to consid er include the impact of Studying outcomes with high survival (e.g., breast cancer), gender-specific exposure patterns and toxicokinetic processing of some chemicals, special limitations in the use of the general population a s the referent, and the need to control for established risk factors for gy necologic tumors.. Am. J. Ind. Med. 36:6-17, 1999. Published 1999 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.dagger.