Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24659585›Full record

SynthesisEnvironmental health perspectives2014

Tetrachloroethylene exposure and bladder cancer risk: a meta-analysis of dry-cleaning-worker studies.

Jelle Vlaanderen, Kurt Straif, Avima Ruder, Aaron Blair, Johnni Hansen, Elsebeth Lynge, Barbara Charbotel, Dana Loomis, Timo Kauppinen, Pentti Kyyronen and 3 more

Open access · diamondAbstract readMeta-AnalysisReview
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Environmental health perspectives, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
4.7field-weighted citation impact, top 5% 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

16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Bladder cancer risk factors: a comprehensive umbrella review of meta-analyses.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2026
    Pooled it
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  11. Extended Mortality Follow-up of a Cohort of Dry Cleaners.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2019
    Article
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  16. Article
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

13 authors at 10 institutions in 6 countries.

Jelle VlaanderenSection of Environment and Radiation, and.
Kurt Straif
Avima Ruder
Aaron Blair
Johnni Hansen
Elsebeth Lynge
Barbara Charbotel
Dana Loomis
Timo Kauppinen
Pentti Kyyronen
Eero Pukkala
Elisabete Weiderpass
Neela Guha
Centre international de recherche sur le cancer · FRCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · USDanish Cancer Society · DKFinnish Cancer Registry · FIFinnish Institute of Occupational Health · FIKarolinska Institutet · SENational Institutes of Health · USTampere University · FIUniversité Claude Bernard Lyon 1 · FRUniversity of Copenhagen · DK

Funding

World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified tetrachloroethylene, used in the production of chemicals and the primary solvent used in dry cleaning, as "probably carcinogenic to humans" based on limited evidence of an increased risk of bladder cancer in dry cleaners.

objectivesWe assessed the epidemiological evidence for the association between tetrachloroethylene exposure and bladder cancer from published studies estimating occupational exposure to tetrachloroethylene or in workers in the dry-cleaning industry.

methodsRandom-effects meta-analyses were carried out separately for occupational exposure to tetrachloroethylene and employment as a dry cleaner. We qualitatively summarized exposure-response data because of the limited number of studies available.

resultsThe meta-relative risk (mRR) among tetrachloroethylene-exposed workers was 1.08 (95% CI: 0.82, 1.42; three studies; 463 exposed cases). For employment as a dry cleaner, the overall mRR was 1.47 (95% CI: 1.16, 1.85; seven studies; 139 exposed cases), and for smoking-adjusted studies, the mRR was 1.50 (95% CI: 0.80, 2.84; 4 case-control studies).

conclusionsOur meta-analysis demonstrates an increased risk of bladder cancer in dry cleaners, reported in both cohort and case-control studies, and some evidence for an exposure-response relationship. Although dry cleaners incur mixed exposures, tetrachloroethylene could be responsible for the excess risk of bladder cancer because it is the primary solvent used and it is the only chemical commonly used by dry cleaners that is currently identified as a potential bladder carcinogen. Relatively crude approaches in exposure assessment in the studies of "tetrachloroethylene-exposed workers" may have attenuated the relative risks.

Indexed as

LaunderingOccupational ExposureHumansRisk AssessmentSolventsTetrachloroethyleneUrinary Bladder NeoplasmsSolventsTetrachloroethylene

Identifiers

PMID24659585
PMCPMC4080536
OpenAlexW2028250869

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC0
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.