Lung cancer incidence among Swedish bakers and pastrycooks: temporal variation.

In a cohort of Swedish bakers and pastrycooks, based on the census of 1960, 188 male lung cancer cases, were reported to the national Cancer Registry 1961-79. The risk of lung cancer exceeded that of all men with 43% (confidence interval 23-65%). After adjustment for smoking habits, using data from a sample of one percent of the Swedish population, the excess risk was reduced. There was a temporal variation in the relative risk, which decreased during the follow-up period in the younger birth cohorts but not in the older ones. Changes in smoking habits did not seem to explain the decreasing trend. The lung cancer risk did not differ significantly between employees and those self-employed in the cohort. To some extent these results confirm earlier findings concerning excess risks of lung cancer in bakers. The lowered risk in Sweden towards the end of the seventies, suggests that the problem is now of less importance.