Association Between Occupation and Cancer Risk: A Large-Scale Case–Control Study in Japan

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between occupation and overall and site-specific cancer risk in Japan. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, hospital-based matched case-control study using the Inpatient Clinico-Occupational Survey of the Rosai Hospital Group (2005-2023), including 146,994 cancer cases and 278,244 matched controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate sex-specific adjusted odds ratios by occupations. RESULTS: Occupational disparities in cancer risk were observed, with more pronounced associations among men than women. Elevated risks were identified in manual and transport-related occupations, whereas lower risks were observed in selected professional occupations. Site-specific patterns varied by cancer type and sex. CONCLUSIONS: Occupation is associated with cancer risk in Japan, showing distinct sex-specific and site-specific patterns. These findings underscore the importance of occupational context in cancer epidemiology and provide a hypothesis-generating framework highlighting behavioral and detection-related factors.