Cancer risk among female agricultural workers: A multi-center case-controlstudy

Background Cancer risk among women engaged in farming has been poorly inves tigated This group of female workers is of particular interest, however; si nce they may experience exposure to several potential agricultural hazards. Methods A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in five Italian r ural areas to examine the association between cancer and farming among wome n. The areas selected were located in three different regions (i.e., Piedmo nt, Tuscany, and Emilia-Romagna). The following cancer sites were selected for the study: stomach, colon, rectum, lung, skin melanoma, skin non-melano ma, breast, cervix and corpus uteri, ovary, bladder kidney. Cases of non-Ho dgkin's lymphoma were also included. Altogether 1,044 newly diagnosed cases aged 20-75 years were ascertained from hospital records from March 1990 to September 1992, and for 945 of them detailed information was collected by a standard questionnaire. The analyses of data were performed comparing eac h case series to a reference group drawn from among the other sites. Uncond itional logistic regression models were used in the statistical analyses. Results Statistically significant increased risks in association with farmi ng were estimated for skin melanoma (OR 2.7 95% CI 1.2-5.8) and bladder can cer (OR 2.7 95% CI 1.2-6.1). Lung cancer was also found increased but not a t a statistically significant level (OR 1.7, 95% CI 0.7-4.4). An OR lower t han unity was observed for postmenopausal breast cancer (OR 0.4 95% CI 0.3- 0.7). Conclusions The present study suggests that women in farming might experien ce increased risk of cancers, not usually found in excess among male farmer s, as well as a protective effect for postmenopausal breast cancel: The rol e of different patterns of exposure or gender specific responses should be considered in further studies. Am. J. Ind. Med. 36:135-141, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.