Cancer risks of hematopoietic/lymphatic and urinary system in pharmaceutical plant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis
A partir d'une revue systématique de la littérature, cette méta-analyse évalue le risque de cancer du système hématopoïétique/lymphatique et du système urinaire chez les personnes travaillant dans une usine pharmaceutique
Introduction: In this study, we will investigate the risk of hematopoietic/lymphatic system and urinary system cancers in pharmaceutical plant workers.
Methods: Six pre-defined inclusion criteria were applied. The quality of all included studies was assessed based on the National Toxicology Program Office of Health Assessment and Translation Risk of Bias tool. Conventional meta-analysis was conducted for hematopoietic/lymphatic system and urinary system cancers. Between-study heterogeneity and publication bias were investigated.
Results: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, four cohort studies of a single pharmaceutical plant, one case-control study, and one cohort study with a nested case-control study were included. For publication bias, the p-value for Egger’s regression test was 0.51 and 0.38 for hematopoietic/lymphatic and urinary system cancer, respectively. Pharmaceutical plant workers showed a 3.19 (95% confidence interval, CI 1.53–6.64) times higher risk of hematopoietic/lymphatic system cancers than the general population. They also showed a 4.86 (95% CI 1.71–13.80) times higher risk of urinary system cancers compared to the general population. Higgins’ I-squared value for between-study heterogeneity was 61.77% (95% CI 0.00–99.06%) and 58.00% (95% CI 0.00–98.67%), respectively.
Conclusion: From this systematic review and meta-analysis, the authors concluded that potential hazardous occupational exposures of workers in pharmaceutical plants could pose an increased risk of hematopoietic/lymphatic system and urinary system cancer. Future studies should be conducted with a more thorough dose-response relationship distinction.
BMC Public Health , article en libre accès, 2025