Lung cancer and exposure to man-made vitreous fibers: Results from a pooled case-control study in Germany

Background To investigate the association between lung cancer and occupatio nal exposure to man-made vitreous fibers (MMVF), a pooled analysis of two c ase-control studies was conducted in the years 1988-1994. Methods The case series consisted of 3498 males who were histologically or cytologically verified primary lung cancer cases. 3541 male population cont rols were drawn at random from the general population and marched to cases by sex, age, and place of residence. To examine the relationship between MM VF and lung cancer we asked all study subjects who worked for at least 6 mo nths as construction and installation workers whether they ever installed o r removed insulations and what kind of insulation material they used. Results Some 304 (8.7%) cases and 170 (4.8%) controls reported to have insu lated with glass wool or mineral wool mars. Coded as ever/never exposed, th e odds ratio was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.17-1.88), adjusted for smoking and asbesto s. To be sure to exclude any confounding effect of asbestos, we tried to id entify those cases and controls who insulated with glass wool or mineral wo ol mats only and never reported any asbestos exposure. For this group we ca lculated an odds ratio of 1.56(95% CI: 0.92-2.65). after adjustment for smo king. An elevated risk was also estimated on the basis of an expert rating which was done for a subgroup of cases and controls. flier exposure to MMVF (but not to asbestos) in this subgroup yielded an odds ratio of 1.30 (95% CI: 0.82-2.07). Conclusions Our study provides some indication for an excess risk of man-ma de vitreous fibers. This result also persists after adjustment for smoking and asbestos. Am. J. Ind. Med. 37:469-477, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.