8287560 Mortality and cancer incidence among wood workers in the Agrican cohort study

<h3>Objective</h3> Workers in the wood sector are directly and indirectly exposed to wood treatment products applied in forestry, sawmills, construction and trade. Some of them are banned and classified as carcinogens. However, literature on their exposure and health effects is scarce. The objective of this study is to analyze mortality by cause, prevalence of some non-cancer diseases and incidence of the main cancers among wood workers included in the Agrican cohort. <h3>Material and Methods</h3> Within the Agrican cohort – that enrolled more than 181,000 workers affiliated to the health insurance for agriculture in 2005–2007 in 11 French areas –, a sub cohort of 9,125 workers involved in the wood sector was constituted and compared to farmers and non-agricultural workers. First, we described sociodemographic data, health characteristics and self-reported diseases. Then, we ran survival analyzes (Cox proportional hazard modes) on the main causes of death and cancer incidence from enrolment to the end of 2015. <h3>Results</h3> Overall mortality in wood workers was comparable to that of farmers but was significantly lower than non-agricultural workers (n=922, HR=0.89 [0.81-0.98]). Overall cancer incidence (n=1,109) was similar to both groups. However, male wood workers had nonsignificant increased risks for: Hodgkin’s lymphoma (n=7; HR=2.24 [0.97-5.20]), bladder cancer (n=49, HR=1.26 [0.94-1.70]), skin melanoma (n=36, HR=1.25 [0.88-1.78]), pharyngeal cancer (n=40, HR=1.22 [0.88-1.70]) and lung cancer (n=104, HR=1.19 [0.97-1.46]). Women had higher risk of cancer of the ovary and the uterus (n=11 cases, HR=1.38 [0.76-2.51]) and kidney cancer (n=5, HR=2.14 [0.88-5.22]). <h3>Conclusion</h3> The differences in cancer incidence between wood workers and farmers could suggest the impacts of occupational risks specific to this population. Additional research is needed to better characterize their occupational exposure.