Evidence map›Paper›PMID 7735383›Full record

ReviewOccupational and environmental medicine1995

Does occupational exposure to dust prevent colorectal cancer?

M M Finkelstein

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Occupational and environmental medicine, 1995. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Wilms tumour.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2021
    Review
  3. Does occupational exposure to dust prevent colorectal cancer?Occupational and environmental medicine · 1995
    Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

M M FinkelsteinHealth and Safety Studies Unit, Ontario Ministry of Labour, Toronto, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo explore the impression that occupational epidemiologists tend to focus on associations suggestive of increased risk and tend to ignore those associations in which risk is not increased. To examine the risk of colorectal cancer in cohorts exposed to dust, cohorts in which it has been suggested that occupational exposure is a cause of increased risk of stomach cancer.

methodsA review of the publications in the English language on mortality among hard rock miners, granite, and quarry workers identified from a MEDLINE search and the index of the library of the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

resultsWhen all of the studies were combined, there were significant excesses of lung and stomach cancers, but a significant deficit of colorectal cancer (standardised mortality ratio (SMR) = 83.9; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 76-91). Overall mortality from gastrointestinal cancer was close to expectation (SMR = 105; 95% CI 99-111). Among those cohorts with increased risk of stomach cancer, rates of colorectal cancer were significantly decreased (SMR = 80; 95% CI 72-88). Among cohorts without increased risk of stomach cancer, the SMR for colorectal cancer was not significantly different from 100 (SMR = 98; 95% CI 81-115).

conclusionsThis review supports the impression that occupational epidemiologists tend to focus on associations suggestive of increased risk and tend to ignore those associations in which risk is not increased. The explanation for the inverse association between risk of stomach and colorectal cancer is uncertain and deserves further study.

Indexed as

DustMiningOccupational ExposureColonic NeoplasmsHumansLung NeoplasmsOccupational DiseasesRectal NeoplasmsRisk FactorsStomach NeoplasmsDust

Identifiers

PMID7735383
PMCPMC1128176

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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.