Published In

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Subjects

Polychlorinated biphenyls -- Health aspects, Lymphomas -- Etiology

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chlorinated hydrocarbons that have extensively polluted the environment and bioaccumulated in the food chain. PCBs have been deemed to be probable carcinogens by the Environmental Protection Agency, and exposure to high levels of PCBs has been consistently linked to increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). In the present article we present a forensic epidemiologic evaluation of the causal relationship between NHL and elevated PCB levels via application of the Bradford-Hill criteria. Included in the evaluation is a meta-analysis of the results of previously published case-control studies in order to assess the strength of association between NHL and PCBs, resulting in an odds ratio in which the lowest percentile PCB concentration (quartile, quintile, or tertile) has been compared with the highest percentile concentration in the study groups. The weight-adjusted odds ratio for all PCB congeners was 1.43 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.31 to 1.55, indicating a statistically significant causal association with NHL. Because of the lack of an unexposed comparison group, a rationale for the use of a less than 2.0 relative risk causal contribution threshold is presented herein, including an ecologic analysis of NHL incidence and PCB accumulation (as measured by sales volume) over time. The overall results presented here indicate a strong general causal association between NHL and PCB exposure.

Description

Copyright 2012 Michael D. Freeman and Sean S. Kohles.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Partial support was provided by the National Institutes of Health

DOI

10.1155/2012/258981

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/8106

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