SynthesisOccupational and environmental medicine2008
Meta-analysis of benzene exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: biases could mask an important association.
Synthesis in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Benzene Exposure and Lung Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Benzene exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of human studies.The Lancet. Planetary health · 2021Pooled it
- Formaldehyde and Brain Disorders: A Meta-Analysis and Bioinformatics Approach.Neurotoxicity research · 2021Pooled it
- Trichloroethylene and cancer: systematic and quantitative review of epidemiologic evidence for identifying hazards.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2011Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence.Mutation research. Reviews in mutation researchPooled it
- Incidence of Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas: Comparison of the Military and General Population.Cancer medicine · 2026Article
- Occupational Benzene Exposure and Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Safety and health at work · 2026Review
- Ambient dioxin exposure and incidence of lymphoid malignancies in large prospective US cohorts of female nurses.Journal of hazardous materials · 2025Article
- Article
- Review
- Epigenome-wide association studies of occupational exposure to benzene and formaldehyde.Epigenetics · 2022Article
- Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying perpetration and victimization: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Campbell systematic reviews · 2021Review
- Review
- Preclinical anticancer studies on the ethyl acetate leaf extracts of Datura stramonium and Datura inoxia.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2020Article
- Developing Large-Scale Research in Response to an Oil Spill Disaster: a Case Study.Current environmental health reports · 2019Article
- Mortality Update of a Cohort of Canadian Petroleum Workers.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2019Article
- Cancer risk in oil refinery workers: a pooled mortality study in Italy.La Medicina del lavoro · 2019Article
- Article
- The Gulf Long-Term Follow-Up Study (GuLF STUDY): Biospecimen collection at enrollment.Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesBenzene is a widely recognised cause of leukaemia but its association with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is less well established. The goal of this project is to review the current published literature on this association.
methodsWe performed a meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies of benzene exposure and NHL and a meta-analysis of NHL and refinery work, a potential source of benzene exposure.
resultsIn 22 studies of benzene exposure, the summary relative risk for NHL was 1.22 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.47; one-sided p value = 0.01). When studies that likely included unexposed subjects in the "exposed" group were excluded, the summary relative risk increased to 1.49 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.97, n = 13), and when studies based solely on self-reported work history were excluded, the relative risk rose to 2.12 (95% CI 1.11 to 4.02, n = 6). In refinery workers, the summary relative risk for NHL in all 21 studies was 1.21 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.46; p = 0.02). When adjusted for the healthy worker effect, this relative risk estimate increased to 1.42 (95% CI 1.19 to 1.69).
conclusionsThe finding of elevated relative risks in studies of both benzene exposure and refinery work provides further evidence that benzene exposure causes NHL. In addition, the finding of increased relative risks after removing studies that included unexposed or lesser exposed workers in "exposed" cohorts, and increased relative risk estimates after adjusting for the healthy worker effect, suggest that effects of benzene on NHL might be missed in occupational studies if these biases are not accounted for.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.