Background: The relationships between asbestos exposure and colorectal cancer remain controversial.
Objectives: We examined the association between asbestos exposure and colorectal cancer incidence.
Methods: Volunteer retired workers previously exposed to asbestos were invited to participate in the French ARDCo screening program between 2003 and 2005. Additional data on risk factors for colorectal cancer were collected from the ARDCo-Nut subsample of 3,769 participants in 2011. Cases of colon and rectal cancer were ascertained each year through 2014 based on eligibility for free medical care following a cancer diagnosis. Survival regression based on the Cox model was used to estimate the relative risk of colon and rectal cancer separately, in relation to the time since first exposure (TSFE) and cumulative exposure index (CEI) to asbestos, and with adjustment for smoking in the overall cohort and for smoking, and certain risk factors for these cancers in the ARDCo-Nut subsample.
Results: Mean follow-up was 10.2 years among 14,515 men, including 181 colon cancer and 62 rectal cancer cases (41 and 17, respectively, in the ARDCo-Nut subsample). In the overall cohort, after adjusting for smoking, colon cancer was significantly associated with cumulative exposure (HR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.26 for a 1-unit increase in ln-CEI) and ≥ 20–40 years since first exposure (HR = 4.67; 95% CI: 1.92, 11.46 vs. 0–20 years TSFE), and inversely associated with 60 years TSFE (HR = 0.26; 95% CI: 0.10, 0.70). Although rectal cancer was also associated with TSFE 20–40 years (HR = 4.57; 95% CI: 1.14, 18.27), it was not associated with ln-CEI, but these findings must be interpreted cautiously due to the small number of cases.
Conclusions: Our findings provide support for an association between occupational exposure to asbestos and colon cancer incidence in men.
1EA7298 INGRES (Interactions gènes-risques environnementaux et effets sur la santé), Faculté de Médecine, Université de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre Les Nancy, France; 2CHU (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire) Nancy, Vandoeuvre Les Nancy, France; 3UMR (Unité Mixte de Recherche) 1027, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France; 4CHU Toulouse, Toulouse, France; 5INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) U1086, Cancers et Populations, Caen, France; 6Université Segalen, Bordeaux, France; 7INSERM 1219, EPICENE (Epidémiologie du cancer et expositions environnementales), Bordeaux, France; 8CHU Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; 9IIMTPIF (Institut Interuniversitaire de Médecine du Travail de Paris Ile de France), Créteil, France; 10CHU Rouen, Service de Pathologie professionnelle, Rouen, France; 11INSERM U1153, Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN), Bobigny, France; 12INRS (Institut national de recherche et de sécurité), Direction scientifique, Vandoeuvre Les Nancy, France; 13Institut Santé Travail Paris-Est, Université Paris-Est, Créteil, France; 14Service de Pneumologie et Pathologie Professionnelle, DHU A-TVB (Ageing-Thorax-Vessels-Blood), CHI Créteil (Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil), Créteil, France; 15INSERM U955, Equipe 4, Créteil, France; 16Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Créteil, France
Recommended Citation:
Christophe Paris,1,2* Isabelle Thaon,et al. Occupational Asbestos Exposure and Incidence of Colon and Rectal Cancers in French Men: The Asbestos-Related Diseases Cohort (ARDCo-Nut)[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2017-01-01,Volume 125(Issue 3):409