0035 Cancer risk in oil refinery workers: a mortality study in four Italian plants

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine the mortality experience of workers employed in four Italian oil refineries. METHOD: The cohort included 5112 male workers ever employed between 1949 and 2011. The average follow-up period was 49 years. SMR and 95% CI were calculated using as reference age-gender-calendar specific regional rates. Analyses by duration of employment and latency were performed. RESULTS: In the whole cohort, pleural (6 deaths, SMR 1.59; 95% CI 0.7-3.5), brain cancers (14 deaths, SMR 1.47; 95% CI 0.9-2.5) and lymphatic leukaemia (LL) (8 deaths, SMR 1.81; 95% CI 0.9-3.6) showed increased risks. All pleural cancers occurred after 10 years of latency and the highest risk was observed among workers with duration >/= 20 years; the brain cancer excess was confined in the shortest duration and latency. The LL excess regarded workers with latency and duration longer than 10 years. Mortality from Non-Hodking lymphoma (NHL) (13 deaths) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) did not differ from the expectation. All AML cases (4 deaths) occurred after 20 years of latency (SMR 1.55, 95% CI 0.6-4.1) and a two fold-increased risk was observed in the longest duration. Mortality for NHL + LL (recently classified as subtypes of NHL) showed increased risks among workers with duration and latency longer than 20 years. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirmed recent epidemiological evidences of an increased risk for pleural cancer and are coherent with most recent meta-analyses suggesting a limited evidence of an increased risk for lymphatic neoplasms in refinery workers possibly due to past exposure to benzene.