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Assessing environmental and occupational risk factors for lung cancer in Mexican–Americans

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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 April 2011

Abstract

Background

We investigated environmental and occupational exposures and smoking history (while controlling for demographics) in a population of Mexican–American lung cancer cases and controls from the Houston metropolitan area.

Methods

Data were collected between 1991 and 2005 as part of an on-going multi-racial/ethnic, lung cancer case–control study. Cases included 212 Mexican–American lung cancer cases from UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. Controls (n = 328) were recruited from Houston’s largest multispecialty group practice and frequency matched to the cases by age (±5 years), sex, and ethnicity. Environmental and occupational factors were analyzed and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using logistic regression.

Results

We detected elevated risks of lung cancer associated with pesticide exposure and found conventional and antimicrobial (e.g., sterilizers, disinfectants, antiseptics) pesticides were associated with an increased risk of lung cancer in Mexican–Americans (conventional pesticides and antimicrobial pesticides combined: OR = 1.80, 95% CI 1.13–2.86; conventional pesticides: OR = 2.05, 95% CI 1.23–2.39; antimicrobial pesticides: OR = 2.48, 95% CI 1.46–4.21).

Conclusions

Although we found over a two-fold increased risk of lung cancer among Mexican–Americans for pesticides, we could not identify individual pesticides. Our findings are an important preliminary step in identifying factors that are specifically associated with lung cancer risk among Mexican Americans.

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Funding

This work was supported by a cancer prevention fellowship funded by the National Cancer Institute grant K07 CA093592 to CJE, the National Cancer Institute grants CA55769 to MRS and CA123208 and CA131327 to CJE, the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute to MRS, and by a cancer prevention fellowship supported by the National Cancer Institute grant R25T CA57730 to MKM, Shine Chang, PhD, Principal Investigator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Boulevard, Unit 1340, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Michelle K. McHugh, Sumesh Kachroo, Mei Liu, Anthony M. D’Amelio Jr., Qiong Dong, Margaret R. Spitz & Carol J. Etzel

  2. The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Sumesh Kachroo & Mei Liu

  3. Biomath/Biostatistics Program, The University of Texas Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Anthony M. D’Amelio Jr.

  4. Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Waun Ki Hong

  5. Kelsey Research Foundation, Houston, TX, 77005, USA

    Anthony J. Greisinger

Authors
  1. Michelle K. McHugh
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  2. Sumesh Kachroo
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  3. Mei Liu
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  4. Anthony M. D’Amelio Jr.
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  5. Qiong Dong
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  6. Waun Ki Hong
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  7. Anthony J. Greisinger
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  8. Margaret R. Spitz
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  9. Carol J. Etzel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carol J. Etzel.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10552-011-9758-z

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McHugh, M.K., Kachroo, S., Liu, M. et al. Assessing environmental and occupational risk factors for lung cancer in Mexican–Americans. Cancer Causes Control 21, 2157–2164 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9635-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9635-1

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