Journal
DIGESTIVE AND LIVER DISEASE
Volume 44, Issue 9, Pages 775-779Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.dld.2012.02.007
Keywords
Alcohol; Cirrhosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver disease; Occupational exposure; Polyvinyl chloride; Vinyl chloride
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Funding
- Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC and FIRC)
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Background: It has been proposed that vinyl chloride exposure is associated with increased risk of death from cirrhosis, although epidemiologic evidence is limited. Methods: We analyzed the risk of death from cirrhosis by occupational vinyl chloride exposure by conducting a meta-analysis on seven available studies, including more than 40,000 workers exposed to vinyl chloride mostly in North America and Europe, with a total of 203 deaths from cirrhosis. Results: All epidemiological studies on vinyl chloride exposure and risk of death from cirrhosis resulted in an overall relative risk of 0.73 (95% confidence interval 0.61-0.87). Thus, the epidemiologic evidence does not suggest an excess mortality from cirrhosis in vinyl chloride-exposed workers: this is consistent with histopathological observations in livers of angiosarcoma patients and of vinyl chloride-exposed rodents revealing no signs of cirrhosis. Conclusion: Overall, our findings indicate the absence of increased risk of death from cirrhosis in vinyl chloride-exposed workers. (C) 2012 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italians S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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