Safety and Health at Work

Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (산업안전보건연구원)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Review for Retrospective Exposure Assessment Methods Used in Epidemiologic Cancer Risk Studies of Semiconductor Workers: Limitations and Recommendations

  • Park, Donguk (Department of Environmental Health, Korea National Open University)
  • Received : 2018.01.09
  • Accepted : 2018.05.23
  • Published : 2018.09.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

This article aims to provide a systematic review of the exposure assessment methods used to assign wafer fabrication (fab) workers in epidemiologic cohort studies of mortality from all causes and various cancers. Epidemiologic and exposure-assessment studies of silicon wafer fab operations in the semiconductor industry were collected through an extensive literature review of articles reported until 2017. The studies found various outcomes possibly linked to fab operations, but a clear association with the chemicals in the process was not found, possibly because of exposure assessment methodology. No study used a tiered assessment approach to identify similar exposure groups that incorporated manufacturing era, facility, fab environment, operation, job and level of exposure to individual hazardous agents. Further epidemiologic studies of fab workers are warranted with more refined exposure assessment methods incorporating both operation and job title and hazardous agents to examine the associations with cancer risk or mortality.

Keywords

References

  1. Beall C, Bender TJ, Cheng H, Herrick R, Kahn A, Matthews R, Sathiakumar N, Schymura M, Stewart J, Delzell E. Mortality among semiconductor and storage device-manufacturing workers. J Occup Environ Med 2005;47:996-1014. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jom.0000183094.42763.f0
  2. Bender TJ, Beall C, Cheng H, Herrick RF, Kahn AR, Matthews R, Sathiakumar N, Schymura MJ, Stewart JH, Delzell E. Cancer incidence among semiconductor and electronic storage device workers. Occup Environ Med 2007;64:30-6. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.64.12.e30
  3. Boice Jr JD, Marano DE, Munro HM, Chadda BK, Signorello LB, Tarone RE, Blot WJ, McLaughlin JK. Cancer mortality among US workers employed in semiconductor wafer fabrication. J Occup Environ Med 2010;52:1082-97. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181f7e520
  4. Darnton A, Wilkinson S, Miller B, MacCalman L, Galea K, Shafrir A, Cherrie J, McElvenny D, Osman J. A further study of cancer among the current and former employees of National Semiconductor (UK) Ltd. Greenock. Sudbury, Suffolk (UK): Health and Safety Executive and Institute of Occupational Medicine; 2010. 135 p.
  5. Lee H-E, Kim E-A, Park J, Kang S-K. Cancer mortality and incidence in Korean semiconductor workers. Saf Health Work 2011;2:135-47. https://doi.org/10.5491/SHAW.2011.2.2.135
  6. McElvenny DM, Darnton AJ, Hodgson JT, Clarke SD, Elliott RC, Osman J. Investigation of cancer incidence and mortality at a Scottish semiconductor manufacturing facility. Occup Med 2003;53:419-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqg111
  7. Nichols L, Sorahan T. Cancer incidence and cancer mortality in a cohort of UK semiconductor workers, 1970-2002. Occup Med 2005;55:625-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqi156
  8. Sorahan T, Pope D, McKiernan M. Cancer incidence and cancer mortality in a cohort of semiconductor workers: an update. Br J Ind Med 1992;49:215.
  9. Sorahan T, Waterhouse J, McKiernan M, Aston R. Cancer incidence and cancer mortality in a cohort of semiconductor workers. Br J Ind Med 1985;42:546-50.
  10. Herrick RF, Stewart JH, Blicharz D, Beall C, Bender T, Cheng H, Matthews R, Sathiakumar N, Delzell E. Exposure assessment for retrospective follow-up studies of semiconductor-and storage device-manufacturing workers. J Occup Environ Med 2005;47:983-95. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jom.0000177128.50822.01
  11. Marano DE, Boice Jr JD, Munro HM, Chadda BK, Williams ME, McCarthy CM, Kivel PF, Blot WJ, McLaughlin JK. Exposure assessment among US workers employed in semiconductor wafer fabrication. J Occup Environ Med 2010;52: 1075-81. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181f6ee1d
  12. Hammond SK, Hines CJ, Hallock MF, Woskle SR, Abdollahzadeh S, Iden CR, Anson E, Ramsey F, Schenker MB. Tiered exposure-assessment strategy in the semiconductor health study. Am J Ind Med 1995;28:661-80.
  13. Blair A, Stewart PA. Do quantitative exposure assessments improve risk estimates in occupational studies of cancer? Am J Ind Med 1992;21:53-63. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.4700210108
  14. Hsieh G, Wang J, Cheng T, Chen P. Prolonged menstrual cycles in female workers exposed to ethylene glycol ethers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Occup Environ Med 2005;62:510-6. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2004.016014
  15. Park D, Yang H, Jeong J, Ha K, Choi S, Kim C, Yoon C, Park D, Paek D. A comprehensive review of arsenic levels in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Ann Occup Hyg 2010;54:869-79.
  16. Research and Development Foundation of Seoul National University. Risk assessment in semiconductor industry: part 1. Exposure assessment. Res Rep 2009.
  17. Stewart PA, Zaebst D, Zey JN, Herrick R, Dosemeci M, Hornung R, Bloom T, Pottern L, Miller BA, Blair A. Exposure assessment for a study of workers exposed to acrylonitrile. Scand J Work Environ Health 1998;24(Suppl. 2):42-53.
  18. Huynh T, Quick H, Ramachandran G, Banerjee S, Stenzel M, Sandler DP, Engel LS, Kwok RK, Blair A, Stewart PA. A comparison of the ${\beta}$-substitution method and a Bayesian method for analyzing left-censored data. Ann Occup Hyg 2016;60:56-73.
  19. Stenzel M, Arnold S. Rules and guidelines to facilitate professional judgement: a strategy for assessing and managing occupational exposures. Fairfax: AIHA Press; 2015.
  20. Park DU, Choi SJ, Heo JJ, Roh HS, Park JH, Ha KC, Yoon CS, Kim W, Kim SW, Kim HR, Kwon HJ. Job-specific questionnaire for estimating exposure to hazardous agents among semiconductor workers. J Korean Soc Occup Environ Hyg 2016:2658-63.