RR929 - The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain: Oesophageal cancer
The aim of this project was to produce an updated estimate of the current burden of cancer for Great Britain resulting from occupational exposure to carcinogenic agents or exposure circumstances. The primary measure of the burden of cancer was the attributable fraction (AF) being the proportion of cases that would not have occurred in the absence of exposure; and the AF was used to estimate the number of attributable deaths and registrations. The study involved obtaining data on the risk of the cancer due to the exposure of interest, taking into account confounding factors and overlapping exposures, as well as the proportion of the target population exposed over the relevant exposure period. Only carcinogenic agents, or exposure circumstances, classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as definite (Group 1) or probable (Group 2A) human carcinogens were considered. Here, we present estimates for cancer of the oesophagus that have been derived using incidence data for calendar year 2004, and mortality data for calendar year 2005.
The estimated total (male and female) AF for oesophageal cancer associated with overall occupational exposure is 2.54% (95% Confidence Interval (CI)= 1.07-5.58), which equates to 184 (95%CI=78-429) attributable deaths and 188 (95%CI=80-439) attributable registrations.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
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