Home Diabetes and Endocrinology Cancer Incidence Up in World Trade Center Responder Cohort

Cancer Incidence Up in World Trade Center Responder Cohort

Incidence up for all cancer sites combined and for prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, leukemia

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Cancer incidence is increased in the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program General Cohort, according to a study published in the February issue of JNCI Cancer Spectrum.

Moshe Z. Shapiro, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues examined cancer incidence in 28,729 members of the WTC Health Program General Responder Cohort occurring within 12 years after exposure. Standardized incidence ratios were calculated with cancer case inclusion and follow-up starting after Sept. 11, 2001 (unrestricted) and with case inclusion and follow-up starting six months following enrollment in the WTC Health Program to account for selection bias (restricted).

The researchers identified 1,072 cancers in 999 responders in restricted analyses. Elevations were seen in cancer incidence for all cancer sites combined, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, and leukemia (standardized incidence ratios, 1.09, 1.25, 2.19, and 1.41, respectively). For all cancer sites combined and for prostate cancer, there was no association for cancer incidence with any WTC exposure index (composite or individual).

“No dose-response association was observed between cancer risk and estimated level of exposure while working on the WTC rescue and recovery effort,” the authors write. “Because of the long latency period of many types of cancer, it is possible that increased rates of other cancers, as well as WTC exposure-cancer associations, may emerge after longer periods of follow-up.”

Abstract/Full Text

Copyright © 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.