Case-control study of lung cancer in Los Angeles county welders

A case-control study of lung cancer in white male welders was undertaken to investigate possible environmental and occupational causes of a 50% excess of lung cancer observed in this occupational group. The subjects were identified from a population-based cancer registry in Los Angeles County. A standardized questionnaire was administered to either subjects or proxy informants of 90 lung cancer cases and 116 non-lung-cancer controls. Significantly increased risks of lung cancer were associated with tobacco smoking (odds ratio 7.6, p less than .005) and shipyard welding with at least a 10-year latency since first exposure (odds ratio 1.7, p less than .05). Although there were elevated risks associated with some specific welding processes, none were statistically significant. Control subjects were more likely to have had exposure to confined-space welding (odds ratio 0.6, 95% CI = 0.3-1.2), and this association was greatest where there had been at least a 20-year latency since first exposure (0.5, 95% CI = 0.3-1.0). We conclude that the excess of lung cancer in this welding population is contributed to by a higher frequency of smoking and probable exposure to asbestos in shipyards. Other factors may be important, but probably because of limited power and reliance on proxy information, this study failed to detect other statistically significant risks.