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Occupation and soft-tissue sarcoma in northeastern Italy

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The influence of occupation and exposure to different agents on the risk of developing soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) was assessed in a case-control study based on 93 cases of STS (53 men and 40 women) and 721 controls (371 men and 350 women), conducted in northeastern Italy. No risk elevation was found in subjects employed in agriculture (odds ratio [OR] for > 10 years = 0.8,95 percent confidence interval [CI]=0.4–1.5), nor in those who reported exposure to pesticides or herbicides (OR=0.4, CI=0.1–1.2). Similarly, neither occupation in the furniture, upholstery, and mechanics industries, nor exposure to livestock or meat processing, wood dust, metal dust, and dyes or paints were associated with STS risk. Workers who reported exposure to chemical agents or to benzene or other solvents for more than 10 years had, respectively, a 1.8-fold (CI=0.7–4.4) and a 2.2-fold (CI=0.9-5.5) higher risk of developing STS. Although the small number of STS cases limits the interpretation of the study results, these findings weigh against the hyphothesis that pesticides, herbicides, or other exposures related to agriculture, play an important role in the etiology of STS. The direct associations with exposure to chemical agents and benzene or other solvents, albeit not statistically significant, may provide a useful hint for future investigations.

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Authors
  1. Diego Serraino
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  2. Silvia Franceschi
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  3. Carlo La Vecchia
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  4. Antonino Carbone
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Additional information

Drs Serraino and Franceschi are with the Epidemiology Unit, and Dr Carbone is with the Department of Pathology at the Aviano Cancer Center, Aviano, Italy. Dr La Vecchia is with the “Mario Negri” Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy and the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne, Switzerland. Address correspondence to Dr Serraino at the Epidemiology Unit, Aviano Cancer Center, Via Pedemontana Occ. 33081 Aviano (PN), Italy. The work was supported by the contribution of the Italian Association for Cancer Research, Milan, and the Italian National Research Council (CNR Applied Project “Clinical Application of Oncological Research,” Contract 87.01544.44).

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Serraino, D., Franceschi, S., La Vecchia, C. et al. Occupation and soft-tissue sarcoma in northeastern Italy. Cancer Causes Control 3, 25–30 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051908

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