CANCER RISKS OF NURSES TO ASSESS THE CARCINOGENIC POTENTIAL OF ANTINEOPLASTIC DRUGS (EPIDEMIOLOGY).
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 248
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Public Health.; Health Sciences, Occupational Health and Safety.
Description: Nurses' (N = 13,587) occupational cancer risks were compared first to teachers (N = 37,160), then to all women except nurses (which included teachers) (N = 289,748), using data on women who participated in the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Survey I (CPS I). These data were collected between 1959 and 1973 in 25 states on women who were 30 years of age and older in 1959. Cancer sites for this analysis were selected based on reported associations between antineoplastic drug (AND) therapy or exposure to related chemicals and cancer risks. The sample was limited to white women, ages 30-64 inclusive, who had a minimum of a high school education. Stratified and logistic regression analyses were used to assess risks. In the multivariate analyses that compared nurses to teachers, elevated risks were found for leukemia (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.5, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.6, 3.8), other hematological cancers (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.2, 4.1), and cancers of the lung (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 0.8, 4.4), bladder (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 0.7, 3.8), and liver (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 0.3, 11.7). In the stratified analyses, older age (50-64 in 1959) was associated with increased risk for lung (Relative Risk (RR) = 3.6, 95% CI = 1.3, 10.2) and hematological cancers (RR = 4.8, 95% CI = 2.0, 11.5). Similar findings were obtained for these analyses using women as the comparison group. Young age (30-49 in 1959), hypothesized to be associated with increased risk of exposure to ANDs, was associated with a nine-fold increased risk of leukemia (RR = 9.3, 95% CI = 1.1, 210.9). While further research is needed to define the exposure-disease relationship and dose-response, the elevated risks detected, particularly for leukemia, warrant strict adherence to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines for safe handling of ANDs.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: B, page: 6222.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1992.

School code: 0806.