• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.31
• /
• pp.11.1-11.6
• /
• 2016

Objectives A hazard assessment of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a commonly used workplace chemical, was conducted in order to protect the occupational health of workers. A literature review, consisting of both domestic and international references, examined the chemical management system, working environment, level of exposure, and possible associated risks. This information may be utilized in the future to determine appropriate exposure levels in working environments. Methods Hazard assessment was performed using chemical hazard information obtained from international agencies, such as Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-generated Screening Information Data Set and International Program on Chemical Safety. Information was obtained from surveys conducted by the Minister of Employment and Labor ("Survey on the work environment") and by the Ministry of Environment ("Survey on the circulation amount of chemicals"). Risk was determined according to exposure in workplaces and chemical hazard. Results In 229 workplaces over the country, 831 tons of DEHP have been used as plasticizers, insecticides, and ink solvent. Calculated 50% lethal dose values ranged from 14.2 to 50 g/kg, as determined via acute toxicity testing in rodents. Chronic carcinogenicity tests revealed cases of lung and liver degeneration, shrinkage of the testes, and liver cancer. The no-observed-adverse-effect level and the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level were determined to be 28.9 g/kg and 146.6 g/kg, respectively. The working environment assessment revealed the maximum exposure level to be $0.990mg/m^3$, as compared to the threshold exposure level of $5mg/m^3$. The relative risk of chronic toxicity and reproductive toxicity were 0.264 and 0.330, respectively, while the risk of carcinogenicity was 1.3, which is higher than the accepted safety value of one. Conclusions DEHP was identified as a carcinogen, and may be dangerous even at concentrations lower than the occupational exposure limit. Therefore, we suggest management of working environments, with exposure levels below $5mg/m^3$ and all workers utilizing local exhaust ventilation and respiratory protection when handling DEHP.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.12
• /
• pp.6005-6010
• /
• 2012

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is endemic in Southern Chinese and Southeast Asian populations. Geographical and ethnic clustering of the cancer is due to genetic, environmental, and lifestyle risk factors. This case-control study aimed to identify or confirm both genetic and non-genetic risk factors for NPC in one of the endemic countries, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A panel of 768 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with various cancers and known non-genetic risk factors for NPC were selected and analyzed for their associations with NPC in a case-control study. Results: Statistical analysis identified 40 SNPs associated with NPC risk in our population, including 5 documented previously by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and other case-control studies; the associations of the remaining 35 SNPs with NPC were novel. In addition, consistent with previous studies, exposure to occupational hazards, overconsumption of salt-cured foods, red meat, as well as low intake of fruits and vegetables were also associated with NPC risk. Conclusions: In short, this study confirmed and/or identified genetic, environmental and dietary risk factors associated with NPC susceptibility in a Southeast Asian population.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.211-227
• /
• 2021

Objectives: We aimed to examine the association between the relative preference for vegetables and meat and cancer incidence, in a population-based retrospective cohort in Korea. Methods: We included 10,148,131 participants (5,794,124 men; 4,354,007 women) who underwent national health screening between 2004 and 2005 from the National Health Information Database of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS-NHID). Participants were asked whether they preferred consuming 1) vegetables more often, 2) both vegetables and meat or 3) meat more often. Participants were followed up to Dec. 31, 2017. All cancer and eighteen common cancer cases were identified through the code from the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision. We estimated sex-specific relative risks and 95% confidence intervals, adjusting for age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, and income level. Results: During an average follow-up of 12.4 years, 714,170 cancer cases were documented. In men, consuming meat more often was associated with lower risk of esophageal, liver, and stomach cancers, but higher risk of lung and kidney cancers. Consuming both vegetables and meat was associated with higher risk of prostate cancer, but with lower risk of esophageal, liver, and stomach cancers in men. In women, consuming meat more often was associated with a higher risk of colorectal cancer and breast, endometrial, and cervical cancers diagnosed before the age of 50. Consuming both vegetables and meat was associated with lower risk of liver cancer in women. Conclusions: Our study suggests a potential link between vegetable and meat intake and cancer incidence in the Korean population. Further investigation on the association between the intake of specific types of vegetables and meat and cancer risk in Korean prospective cohort studies is needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.166-173
• /
• 2004

Objectives : Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer among women in Busan. The Pap smear test could have a significant effect on detecting cervical cancer, and enhancing their rate of use is an important strategy for reducing the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the factors associated with the past use of the Pap smear test in Korean women. Methods : A population-based survey was carried out in Busan between November 1999 and March 2000. 1,673 participants were randomly selected from 2,684 women in Busan, using a 2-stage cluster sampling method, and interviewed in their homes. Their socio-demographic characteristics, smoking, drinking, familial cancer history, Pap smear screening history, reproductive and menstrual factors, sexual habits and use of contraceptive methods data were collected by a trained interviewer using a questionnaire. The use of the screening test was defined by a self-report from the participants on how many times they had had a Pap smear test in their lifetime, and when they had received their latest examination. Results : Of the 1,673 respondents (62.3% response rate), 57.6% had had a Pap smear test during her life (mean number, 2.3). Among the health examination participants(1,064), 961(90.3%) reported having sexual experience and 70.9% of these had had a Pap smear test. In a multiple logistic regression analysis, statistically significant relationships were observed for age groups and the Pap smear test rate (odds ratio, OR for 35-44 years=2.45; OR for 45-54 years=3.41; OR for 55 years=2.60; reference, under 34 years). The married or cohabiting women were more likely to have used the Pap smear test than those separated or widowed (OR=1.73). Among the reproductive behavioral measures, the number of births (OR for 3 births=4.22; OR for 2 births=3.95; OR for 1 births=3.38; reference, 0 births) and husband's extra-marital affairs (OR=1.50) were associated with the rates of use of Pap smear tests. Conclusion : It appears that the most important contributing factors to cervical cancer screening were age, marital status and number of births. A positive association was also observed for the husband's extra-marital affairs. This study enabled us to systematically assess the relationship between Pap smear rates and risk factors for cervical cancer. It is hoped that this study will make a significant contribution to the accumulating scientific evidence on the identification of factors associated with cervical cancer screening in Korea.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.273-281
• /
• 2011

Objectives: Studies examining healthcare workers' exposure to antineoplastic drugs have focused on the drug preparation or drug administration areas. However, such an approach has probably underestimated the overall exposure risk as the drugs need to be delivered to the facility, transported internally and then disposed. The objective of this study is to determine whether drug contamination occurs throughout a facility and, simultaneously, to identify those job categories that are potentially exposed. Methods: This was a multi-site study based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Interviews were conducted to determine the departments where the drugs travel. Subsequent site observations were performed to ascertain those surfaces which frequently came into contact with antineoplastic drugs and to determine the job categories which are likely to contact these surfaces. Wipe samples were collected to quantify surface contamination. Results: Surface contamination was found in all six stages of the hospital medication system. Job categories consistently found to be at risk of exposure were nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy receivers. Up to 11 job categories per site may be at risk of exposure at some point during the hospital medication system. Conclusion: We found drug contamination on select surfaces at every stage of the medication system, which indicates the existence of an exposure potential throughout the facility. Our results suggest that a broader range of workers are potentially exposed than has been previously examined. These results will allow us to develop a more inclusive exposure assessment encompassing all healthcare workers that are at risk throughout the hospital medication system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.17
• /
• pp.7613-7618
• /
• 2015

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of the most common hematologic malignancies which accounts for one fourth of all childhood cancer cases. Exposure to environmental factors around the time of conception or pregnancy can increase the risk of ALL in the offspring. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of prenatal and postnatal exposure to high voltage power lines on the incidence of childhood ALL. It also examines the role of various factors such as environmental factors and alpha-amylase as a marker in the development of leukemia.This cross-sectional case control study was carried out on 22 cases and 100 controls who born and lived in low socioeconomic families in Tehran and were hospitalized for therapeutic purposes in different hospitals ofrom 2013-2014. With regard to the underlying risk factors; familial history and parental factors were detected as risk factors of ALL but in this age, socioeonomic and zonal matched case control study, prenatal and childhood exposure to high voltage power lines was considered as the most important environmental risk factor (p=0.006, OR=3.651, CI 95% 1.692-7.878). As the population study was from low socioeconomic state, use of mobiles, computers and microwaves was negligible. Moreover prenatal and postnatal exposure to all indoor electrically charged objects were not detected as significant environmental factors in the present study. This work defined the risk of environmental especially continuous pre and postnatal exposure to high voltage power lines and living in pollutant regions through the parents or children as well as the previously described risk factors of ALL for the first time in low socioeconomic status Iranian population.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.1 s.94
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2007

This study accomplished to grasp the present condition of HAPs and to examine efficiently carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health effects through health risk assessment in new apartments from June, 2004 to May,2005. Moreover, we performed uncertainty analysis by Monte-Carlo analysis to control uncertainty of exposure factors. The major results obtained from this study were as follows. Firstly, cancer risk of formaldehyde for male was $1.67{\times}10^{-5}$ in CTE in point estimation. Cancer risk of formaldehyde was showed $2.94{\times}10^{-3}$ in RME that applied worst case used results of 95 percentile in point estimation. It exceeds $10^{-6}$ of guide line in US EPA. Moreover, cancer risks of formaldehyde for female were $3.98{\times}10^{-5}$ in CTE and $3.93{\times}10^{-3}$ RME. Secondly, every hazard index for non-carcinogenic pollutants was less than 1 of permitted standards in CTE. However, in RME of male, hazard indexes of 1,2-Dichloropropane and Toluene were 1.3 and 2.0, respectively. Hazard indexes of 1,2-Dichloropropane and Totuene for female in RME were 1.7 and 2.6, respectively.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.11
• /
• pp.6523-6528
• /
• 2013

Background: Cigarette smoking is the largest single recognized cause of human cancers. In Western countries, many epidemiologists have reported risk factors for kidney cancer including smoking. However, little is known about the Japanese population. Materials and Methods: We evaluated the association of smoking with the risk of kidney cancer death in the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) Study. Participants included 46,395 males and 64,190 females. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine age-and-sex adjusted relative risks. Results: A total of 62 males and 26 females died from kidney cancer during the follow-up of 707,136 and 1,025,703 person-years, respectively. Heavy smokers (Brinkman index >1200), fondness of fatty foods, hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), and obesity were suggested to increase the risk of renal cell carcinoma while walking was suggested to decrease the risk. Even after controlling for age, sex, alcohol drinking and DM, heavy smoking significantly increased the risk. Conclusions: The present study suggests that six factors including smoking may increase and/or reduce the risk of kidney cancer in the Japanese population. Because of the small number of outcomes, however, we did not evaluate these factors after adjusting for all possible confounding factors. Further studies may be needed to confirm the findings in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.270-279
• /
• 2009

In order to check a necessity of health control for the laborers who are in use of mixed organic solvents in the printing industries, this study evaluated the use status of mixed organic solvents, health subjective symptoms on the exposure of the solvents, health hazard for each kind of printings for the employees who work for the printing industries located in Seoul and Gyeonggi. The study analyzed 228 sites and 311 people responded of the total 250 sites surveyed from March to September 2007, and obtained the following results; 1) Estimating the exposure of the mixed organic solvents, the study found that estimation of mixture(EM) was different for each kind of printings at a level of significance, excessiveness of EM was 7.5%, the highest, for gravure printing, 5.6% for screen printing, 4.7% for master printing, 2.9% for offset printing. 2) As to the mean scores of health subjective symptoms for each kind of printings, workers in screen printing showed high scores in every subjective symptom, of which symptom of central nervous system was 3.75, the highest, and the difference was statistically at a level of significance(p<0.01). 3) Results of the hazard analysis for carcinogens and non-carcinogens contained in the mixed organic solvents exposed to the workers showed that cancer risk of offset printing workers was $7.8{\times}10^{-9}$ for benzene, the mean cancer risk was $2.02.{\times}10^{-8}$ from Monte-Carlo simulation, and both risks did not exceed the US EPA permissible standard of $1{\times}10^{-6}$. The total hazard indices of the non-carcinogens estimated was 3.523, the highest, for gravure printing, 2.381 for master printing, 1.125 for screen printing, respectively, and all exceeded 1.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.2069-2079
• /
• 2012

Background and Objective: A comprehensive overall review of gastric cancer (GC) risk and protective factors is a high priority, so we conducted the present study. Methods: Systematic searches in common medical electronic databases along with reference tracking were conducted to include all kinds of systematic reviews (SRs) about GC risk and protective factors. Two authors independently selected studies, extracted data, and evaluated the methodological qualities and the quality of evidence using R-AMSTAR and GRADE approaches. Results: Beta-carotene below 20 mg/day, fruit, vegetables, non-fermented soy-foods, whole-grain, and dairy product were GC protective factors, while beta-carotene 20 mg/day or above, pickled vegetables, fermented soy-foods, processed meat 30g/d or above, or salty foods, exposure to alcohol or smoking, occupational exposure to Pb, overweight and obesity, helicobacter pylori infection were GC risk factors. So we suggested screening and treating H. pylori infection, limiting the amount of food containing risk factors (processed meat consumption, beta-carotene, pickled vegetables, fermented soy-foods, salty foods, alcohol), stopping smoking, avoiding excessive weight gain, avoidance of Pb, and increasing the quantity of food containing protective components (fresh fruit and vegetables, non-fermented soy-foods, whole-grain, dairy products). Conclusions: The conclusions and recommendations of our study were limited by including SRs with poor methodological bases and low quality of evidence, so that more research applying checklists about assessing the methodological qualities and reporting are needed for the future.