Levy Paul S, Roth H Daniel, Hwang Peggy May T, Powers Timothy E
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Inhal Toxicol. 2002 Oct;14(10):1003-15. doi: 10.1080/08958370290084755.
This analysis is motivated by recent reviews on the carcinogenicity of beryllium by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, and reconsideration by the National Toxicology Program on its classification of the carcinogenicity of beryllium. It reanalyzes data from a 1992 publication of a cohort mortality study conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of workers employed in seven plants producing beryllium in the United States (Ward et al., 1992). That publication reported an increased risk of lung cancer in these workers and concluded that it is most likely due to occupational exposure to beryllium compounds. This present report uses: (1) an adjustment for smoking based on more germane estimates of the association between smoking and mortality from lung cancer; (2) computations of expected lung cancer rates based on alternative comparison populations; and (3) an overall combined estimate of the findings from the individual plants based on meta-analysis. Our findings indicate lower and generally not statistically significant standard mortality ratios that are not compatible with the interpretation of a likely causal association.
这项分析的动机来自国际癌症研究机构、美国环境保护局和美国政府工业卫生学家会议最近对铍致癌性的综述，以及国家毒理学计划对铍致癌性分类的重新考虑。它重新分析了美国国家职业安全与健康研究所（NIOSH）1992年发表的一项队列死亡率研究的数据，该研究针对美国七家生产铍的工厂的工人（Ward等人，1992年）。该出版物报告了这些工人患肺癌的风险增加，并得出结论，这很可能是由于职业接触铍化合物所致。本报告采用：（1）基于吸烟与肺癌死亡率之间更相关估计值对吸烟进行调整；（2）基于替代对照人群计算预期肺癌发病率；（3）基于荟萃分析对各个工厂的研究结果进行总体综合估计。我们的研究结果表明，标准死亡率较低，且一般无统计学意义，这与可能的因果关联解释不一致。
