Quick Links
Customer Centres
Occupational Risk Identification for Ovarian Cancer
RS2000/01-019 & RS2003/04-002
Final Report Dates: November 2004 & December 2006
| Principal Investigator: | Nhu Le (B.C. Cancer Agency) |
| Co-Investigators: | Joel Bert (UBC); Richard Gallagher, Barbara Lang (B.C. Cancer Agency) |
For more information about this project, please contact Dr. Nhu Le.
Issue
In this project, data collection was conducted to enable a longer term research study of potential carcinogens in the B.C. work environment that may be related to ovarian cancer. Relatively little research has been conducted to date on occupational risk factors in ovarian cancer, and there is a lack of detailed exposure assessment for women at the individual level. Mortality studies with B.C. women have suggested there may be elevated risks of ovarian cancer in some occupations. Women in B.C. are also increasingly working in non-traditional areas, potentially causing greater exposure to occupational and industrial carcinogens. It is therefore important to examine the risks for ovarian cancer due to chemical exposure in the work environment more thoroughly so that preventive strategies can be established.
Key findings
- A total of 1167 participants were recruited for the project, including ovarian cancer patients (cases) and women from the general population (controls). Data collection was completed for most participants by the end of the three year project period.
- Future stages of the project will estimate occupational exposures for the study participants, and examine the relationship between the exposures and the risk of ovarian cancer.
Objectives
- To complete the data collection for a larger project that will identify carcinogens in the B.C. work environment that may be related to ovarian cancer.
Methods
A case-control approach is being used in this study, to compare the occupational exposure levels of ovarian cancer patients (cases) with the occupational exposure levels of women (controls) of matching age, randomly selected from the general population.
This information will be used to assess individual exposure to occupational chemicals, by linking participant’s job histories with estimates of typical exposures for the jobs and industries worked (job exposure matrices). When individual exposures have been estimated for all participants, an analysis will be conducted to examine the relationship between the occupational exposures and the risk of ovarian cancer.
Results
A total of 1167 participants were recruited for the study by the end of the project period, including 808 cases (ovarian cancer patients) and 359 controls (women randomly selected from the general population, matching in age). Occupational histories were completed for most participants by the end of the project period.
Future directions
The researchers plan to use the data to examine risks for occupational ovarian cancer, and the relationship between ovarian cancer and exposure to specific chemicals that are present in B.C. workplaces.