Traditionally, occupational research has focused primarily on white men, even though women comprise 46% of the U.S. civilian workforce, and minorities are often employed in jobs with hazardous exposures. The OEEB has undertaken a number of epidemiologic studies with a substantial focus in occupation which include women and minorities during the past year. A telephone interview survey updating exposure information was completed in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective cohort study of more than 90,000 subjects, including approximately 32,000 women and 2,000 minorities. Both direct occupational exposure and indirect environmental exposure to pesticides and other exposures are being evaluated in the study. The Shanghi Women's Study is a prospective cohort study of 75,000 women conducted by Vanderbilt University in collaboration with NCI and the Shanghai Cancer Institute. Blood/buccal cell and urine samples have been collected from nearly 90% of participants. The fourth biennial follow-up was completed in 2008. Exposure assessment to benzene and silica based on industrial monitoring data maintained by the Shanghai municipal government are ongoing. Cancer risk will be evaluated as the exposure data become available. The association with occupation and industry of employment also has been evaluated, and increased risk of breast and lung cancers and chronic bronchitis were suggested in relation to some production jobs. Among a cohort of farmers in Xuanwei, China, both men and women who changed from unvented stoves to portable stoves had decreased risk of lung cancer mortality compared to those who did not change stoves. The New England Bladder Cancer study, a large multicenter case-control study of bladder cancer is on-going to examine environmental and occupational risk factors and the reasons for the consistently elevated incidence and mortality of this cancer in New England. Field data collection in a hospital-based case-control study of kidney cancer with a major focus on occupational exposures has been completed in Central and Eastern Europe. An increased risk was suggested with occupational exposure to pesticides, but no gender differences in this association were observed. The U.S. renal cell cancer study is the first study of this cancer that included a sufficent number of African Americans for separate evaluation of their risks, and the contribution of environmental and occupational risk factors to the racial disparity in incidence of this cancer. Data analyses are ongoing. NCI is leading the environmental sampling component of the California childhood leukemia case-control study. The approximately 40% Hispanic and 10% Asian participants in this study provide an opportunity to evaluate agricultural and other risk factors among these minorities. Residential exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls was associated with a twofold risk of childhood leukemia, and teh associations were stronger among non-Hispanic whites than among Hispanics. To evaluate the role of cigarette smoking in relation to risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, NCI investigators pooled questionnaire data from participating studies in a Barett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma consortium. Risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma increased consistently with increasing pack-years of smoking, and the risks were comparable between men and women. Occupational exposures were suggested as a risk factor n a large population-based case-control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In another case-control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma among women in Connecticut, risk was increased with increasing levels of occupational exposure to organic solvent.
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