Leukemia among male construction workers in California, 1988-2007

A total of 18 708 male cases of leukemia from the California Cancer Registry, including 1703 cases usually employed in construction, were each matched with up to five controls from the same source who were diagnosed with cancers not thought to be related to exposures common in construction. Compared to other workers, construction workers were found to have a significantly elevated risk for all leukemia combined (morbidity odds ratio [MOR] = 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08, 1.20), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) (MOR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.07, 1.58), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (MOR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.27) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) (MOR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.09, 1.44). Among the different construction occupations, the highest MOR for all leukemia was among carpet installers (MOR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.16, 3.44), followed by plumbers (MOR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.59) and laborers (MOR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.12, 1.42). Other associations were limited to specific construction occupations, leukemia subtypes and/or racial/ethnic groups. These associations should be further studied with more in-depth exposure assessment.