Occupational exposure to diesel exhausts and risk for lung cancer in a population-based case-control study in Italy

Background: We studied the effect of exposure to diesel exhausts on lung cancer risk in a population-based case-control study in the city of Turin, Italy. Patients and methods: Information on occupational histories of 595 incident lung cancer cases diagnosed in 1991-1992 and 845 population controls was obtained. During the interviews, diesel job-specific modules (D-JSMs) were administered whenever subjects had worked in occupations included in the following nine categories: railroad workers, miners, professional drivers and transport conductors, heavy-machine operators, mechanics and testers, filling station attendants, motor-vehicle park attendants, transport equipment operators, and occupations carried out in/near urban roads. All D-JSMs were evaluated for probability, intensity and frequency of exposure. Results: The odds ratio for ever exposure to diesel exhausts was 1.04 (95% confidence interval 0.79-1.37), after adjusting for age, sex, smoking and having worked in occupations entailing exposure to known lung carcinogens. No association was found with intensity, probability and duration of exposure. Conclusions: Although misclassification of the exposure may have contributed to the negative results, we did not find an association between occupational exposure to diesel exhausts and lung cancer risk.