Evidence map›Paper›PMID 20070208›Full record

ReviewAnnual review of public health2010

Advances in understanding benzene health effects and susceptibility.

Martyn T Smith

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Annual review of public health, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 128 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
128citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
6.2field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

128 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 402 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Occupational benzene exposure and risk of kidney and bladder cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of cancer prevention : the official journal of the European Cancer Prevention Organisation (ECP) · 2025
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. A review and meta-analysis of outdoor air pollution and risk of childhood leukemia.Journal of environmental science and health. Part C, Environmental carcinogenesis & ecotoxicology reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Pooled it
  9. Environmental benzene exposure induces a conserved neutrophil degranulation program across species.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Artificial Intelligence Assisted Optimization ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Cardiac abnormalities induced by benzene exposure from the flaring disaster at the BP refinery plant in Texas City.International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health · 2025
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Exposures from Oil and Gas Development and Childhood Leukemia Risk in Colorado: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
    Article

68 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Martyn T SmithSuperfund Research Program, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-7356, USA. martynts@berkeley.edu
University of California, Berkeley · US

Funding

Training CoreP42ES004705 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI MORELLO-FROSCH, RACHEL ADELE · 1987 to 2025
$74.6M
BIOMARKERS OF BENZENE EXPOSURE AND GENOTOXICITYR01ES006721 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI SMITH, MARTYN T · 1993 to 2007
$3.3M
NIEHS NIH HHS P42 ES004705NIEHS NIH HHS P42ES04705NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES006721NIEHS NIH HHS R01ES06721NIEHS NIH HHS U54ES01611
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Benzene is a ubiquitous chemical in our environment that causes acute leukemia and probably other hematological cancers. Evidence for an association with childhood leukemia is growing. Exposure to benzene can lead to multiple alterations that contribute to the leukemogenic process, indicating a multimodal mechanism of action. Research is needed to elucidate the different roles of multiple metabolites in benzene toxicity and the pathways that lead to their formation. Studies to date have identified a number of polymorphisms in candidate genes that confer susceptibility to benzene hematotoxicity. However, a genome-wide study is needed to truly assess the role of genetic variation in susceptibility. Benzene affects the blood-forming system at low levels of occupational exposure, and there is no evidence of a threshold. There is probably no safe level of exposure to benzene, and all exposures constitute some risk in a linear, if not supralinear, and additive fashion.

Indexed as

BenzeneCarcinogens, EnvironmentalDose-Response Relationship, DrugEnvironmental ExposureEpidemiologic StudiesHematologic NeoplasmsHumansLeukemia, Myeloid, AcuteReceptors, Aryl HydrocarbonBenzeneCarcinogens, EnvironmentalReceptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon

Identifiers

PMID20070208
PMCPMC4360999
OpenAlexW2165603390

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.