Asbestos exposure, physical activity and colon cancer: a case-control study

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos exposure, physical activity and colon cancer: a case-control study, by P. Vineis, G. Ciccone, A. Magnino (Tumori, 1993).

The study

• Authors: P. Vineis, G. Ciccone, A. Magnino
• Journal: Tumori
• Published: 1993;79(5):301-3
• Cited by: 16 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Aims And Background: An association between colon cancer and the occupation of model or pattern maker in the car industry has been repeatedly suggested. The aim of our study was to investigate colon cancer and occupational exposures (in particular in the car industry) in an industrialized area of northern Italy.

Methods: We conducted a hospital-based case-referent study on colon cancer (n = 131; hospital controls, n = 463). All subjects were interviewed, and jobs in the car industry were investigated. Occupational exposure to asbestos and the level of physical activity were blindly assessed. All the jobs were classified according to energy expenditure (less than 8, 8-12 and more than 12 kJ/min).

Results: We found no association between colon cancer and any job in the car industry. No subject had worked as a model or pattern maker. Sedentary work was associated with colon cancer in men but not in women. An excess risk was demonstrated among males for job titles involving putative exposure to asbestos (4 cases and 3 controls; OR = 4.8, 95% c.i. 1.05-21.5), in particular pipe fitters and boilermakers (3 cases and 1 control; OR = 10.7; 1.07-103).

In plain English

This hospital-based case-control study from Torino, in northern Italy, asked whether colon cancer was linked to car-industry work, to jobs with possible asbestos exposure, and to how physically demanding jobs were. It compared 131 people newly diagnosed with colon cancer between September 1990 and July 1991 (74 men, 57 women) with 463 other hospital patients (254 men, 209 women). A nurse interviewed everyone about their jobs. Among men, 4 cases and 3 controls had held jobs with putative asbestos exposure, such as pipe fitter or boilermaker. Their odds ratio was 4.8 (95% confidence interval 1.05-21.5). For the 3 cases and 1 control who were pipe fitters or boilermakers in construction, it was 10.7 (1.07-103). Car-industry work showed no link, and no one had been a model or pattern maker. Sedentary work was associated with colon cancer in men but not in women, with no dose-response pattern. The article did not name asbestos fiber types. The authors concluded that an excess risk was suggested for asbestos-related job titles. They named the hospital-based design and limited statistical power as limitations.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Hospital-based case-control (case-referent) study
• Who was studied: 131 colon cancer cases (74 men, 57 women) newly diagnosed September 1990 to July 1991 and treated at the Main Hospital of Torino, Italy, and 463 hospital controls (254 men, 209 women) drawn from a 10% random sample of patients in Departments of Medicine and Surgery in 1989-1990. Patients with coronary heart disease were excluded from the analyses.
• Exposure: Job titles with potential asbestos exposure (stone cutter, mechanic of pipes and boilers, pipe fitter, steamfitter, boilermaker, mechanic at a heating company, pipe installer). The study also looked at car-industry work and at job energy expenditure (less than 8, 8-12, and more than 12 kJ/min). No asbestos fiber type or dose was given.
• Main results:
  • Among men, 4 cases and 3 controls held jobs with putative asbestos exposure: OR 4.8, 95% confidence interval (exact method) 1.05-21.5
  • Among men, 3 cases and 1 control had worked as pipe fitters or boilermakers in the construction industry: OR 10.7, 95% confidence interval (exact method) 1.07-103
  • 12 male cases and 49 controls had worked in the automobile industry: age-adjusted OR 0.7 (0.4-1.5). No subject had worked as a model or pattern maker.
  • In men, the odds ratio for job energy expenditure below 12 kJ/min was 1.6, with no dose-response relationship. No association with energy expenditure was found in women.
  • Slightly raised odds ratios were seen for transformation of non-metallic minerals (OR 1.75, 0.5-5.9), the food and beverage industry (OR 1.5, 0.4-6.0) and the textile industry (OR 1.4, 0.6-3.2). None was statistically significant. No one in the non-metallic minerals category worked in an asbestos transforming plant.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that an excess risk of colon cancer was suggested for job titles involving asbestos exposure, in particular pipe fitters and boilermakers. They found no association with any car-industry job, and an association of sedentary work with colon cancer in men only.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Hospital-based design and limited statistical power to detect weak associations
  • Energy expenditure was likely misclassified in women, since women's activities are usually lighter than men's in the same job titles

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Auto mechanics and brake work, Colon cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Colorectal Cancer, Case-Control Study, Occupational Exposure.

Related studies

• Colon cancer, physical activity, and occupational exposures. A case-control study — M. Fredriksson, N.O. Bengtsson, et al. (1989)
• A case-control study of the relationship between the risk of colon cancer in men and exposures to occupational agents — M.S. Goldberg, M.E. Parent, et al. (2001)
• Asbestos and colon cancer: lack of association in a large case-control study — D.H. Garabrant, R.K. Peters, et al. (1992)
• Identification of occupational cancer risks in British Columbia, Canada: a population-based case-control study of 1,155 cases of colon cancer — R. Fang, N. Le, et al. (2011)
• Occupational Asbestos Exposure and Incidence of Colon and Rectal Cancers in French Men: The Asbestos-Related Diseases Cohort (ARDCo-Nut) — C. Paris, I. Thaon, et al. (2017)
• Asbestos and colon cancer: a weight-of-the-evidence review — J.F. Gamble (1994)

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