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Cancer Mortality among Men Occupationally Exposed to Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

¹ Occupational Health Section, Department of Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy and ² Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland

Requests for reprints: Pierluigi Cocco, Occupational Health Section, Department of Public Health, University of Cagliari, Via San Giorgio 12, 09124 Cagliari, Italy. Phone: 39-070-6756278; Fax: 39-070-654350; E-mail: coccop{at}pacs.unica.it.

Several studies have evaluated cancer risk associated with occupational and environmental exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Results are mixed. To further inquire into human carcinogenicity of DDT, we conducted a mortality follow-up study of 4,552 male workers, exposed to DDT during antimalarial operations in Sardinia, Italy, conducted in 1946 to 1950. Detailed information on DDT use during the operations provided the opportunity to develop individual estimates of average and cumulative exposure. Mortality of the cohort was first compared with that of the Sardinian population. Overall mortality in the cohort was about as expected, but there was a deficit for death from cardiovascular disease and a slight excess for nonmalignant respiratory diseases and lymphatic cancer among the unexposed subcohort. For internal comparisons, we used Poisson regression analysis to calculate relative risks of selected malignant and nonmalignant diseases with the unexposed subcohort as the reference. Cancer mortality was decreased among DDT-exposed workers, mainly due to a reduction in lung cancer deaths. Birth outside from the study area was a strong predictor of mortality from leukemia. Mortality from stomach cancer increased up to 2-fold in the highest quartile of cumulative exposure (relative risk, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 0.9-4.4), but no exposure-response trend was observed. Risks of liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and leukemia were not elevated among DDT-exposed workers. No effect of latency on risk estimates was observed over the 45 years of follow-up and within selected time windows. Adjusting risks by possible exposure to chlordane in the second part of the antimalarial operations did not change the results. In conclusion, we found little evidence for a link between occupational exposure to DDT and mortality from any of the cancers previously suggested to be associated.

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