Human Exposure to Poultry and Poultry Products and the Risk of Death from Hematopoietic & Lymphatic Cancers
S. Bangara
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA and Public Health Program, Austin College, 900 Grand Ave, Sherman, TX 75090, USA
N. Preacely
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA
M. J. Felini
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA
E. S. Johnson *
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA and Department of Epidemiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301W Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary information on occupational exposures responsible for the excess of hematopoietic & lymphatic (H&L) cancers previously observed in cohort mortality studies of workers in poultry slaughtering and processing plants.
Methods: A pilot case-cohort study was conducted nested within a combined cohort of 30,411 poultry workers and 16,408 controls, identified from several United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) unions across the United States. Interviewed cases were 48 deaths out of a total of 130 deaths (37%) from H & L tumors that occurred in the cohort between 1990-2003. Controls were N=152 subjects that were successfully interviewed out of 1516 subjects (10%) randomly selected from all cohort members alive as of January 1, 1990. Telephone interviews were obtained directly from live control subjects or next-of-kin for deceased cases and controls. Mortality risk was assessed using logistic regression odds ratios and hazard ratios.
Results: Poultry farming [OR=10.8 (95% CI: 3.0-39.1)] and spreading chicken wastes as manure [OR=5.6 (95% CI: 1.5-20.4)] were significantly associated with lymphoma; handling raw eggs in supermarkets [OR=4.3 (95% CI: 1.0-18.0)] was significantly associated with leukemia. Non-poultry exposures significantly associated with these tumors included coal by-products, selling seafood, and killing of pigs.
Conclusion: This preliminary study identifies possible occupational exposures that may be associated with excess deaths from H & L tumors in poultry workers. Case-control studies of sufficient statistical power are now needed to confirm these findings and discover new ones.
Keywords: Chicken plants, leukemia, lymphoma, poultry, cancer, occupational exposures, mortality