Occupational exposure and liver cancer in women: Results of the Multicentre International Liver Tumour Study (MILTS)

Abstract

The association of occupational variables and hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is discussed with particular reference to women, as little research has been undertaken on their behalf. This paper reports the results of an international case-control study concerning women and involves 317 cases of HCC and 1789 controls. Working in the chemical industry was shown to have only a marginally significant risk associated with HCC: adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval 2.37 (1.04-5.41). Other non-significantly elevated ORs were observed in the pharmaceutical, plastics, PVC-producing, farming and butchery industries. Little consistency was found among the risk estimates for HCC, based on three different analytical approaches. None of the analyses showed a linear trend of risk with increasing duration of exposure. However, the numbers of exposed cases and controls were small for many of the occupations and therefore the study power and precision were low. We failed to find important and consistent evidence for a relationship between HCC in women and occupational variables. However, even weak evidence of occupational risk warrants careful consideration in future studies.