NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 14 - Long-term follow-up of the National Cancer Institute's formaldehyde cohort confirms prior reports that exposure to formaldehyde may increase the risk of Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloid leukemia, and multiple myeloma.
The cohort comprises over 25,000 subjects who began work in formaldehyde industries prior to 1966. In the last study, the subjects were followed through December 31,1994 and in the current one, through December 31, 2004, Dr. Laura E. Beane Freeman, from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues note.
During a median follow-up period of 42 years, subjects in the highest peak formaldehyde exposure category were 1.37-times more likely to develop any lymphohematopoietic malignancy than those in the lowest category (p = 0.02). A nearly fourfold increased risk of Hodgkin lymphoma was seen with high versus low exposure (p = 0.01).
Multiple myeloma, all leukemia, and myeloid leukemia were also linked to formaldehyde exposure, but the associations did not reach statistical significance, according to the report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for May 20.
The average intensity and cumulative exposure to formaldehyde seemed to have little effect on the risk of any lymphohematopoietic cancer, the report indicates. The disease associations, however, varied with time.
The greatest relative risks of myeloid leukemia related to peak formaldehyde exposure were noted prior to 1980, yet statistically significance was seen in 1990 only, the authors note. Moreover, the formaldehyde-related risk of myeloid leukemia fell after the mid-1990s.
"It is our opinion that the overall pattern of risks seen in this extended follow-up of formaldehyde workers, although not definitive, warrants continued concern," the authors state.
J Natl Cancer Inst 2009;101:751-761.
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