Assessment of environmental and domestic exposure to tremolite in New Caledonia.

In this study, the authors characterized exposure to asbestos in the population of New Caledonia, an area where a high mesothelioma incidence was found to be associated with the use of a tremolite-containing whitewash on dwellings. The authors collected airborne samples from various sources. Lung tissue samples or bronchoalveolar lavage fluids were available for 80 subjects, who were interviewed regarding their residential and occupational histories.

Smoking, alcohol drinking and cancer risk for various sites of the larynx and hypopharynx. A case-control study in France.

The aim of this work was to study the effects of alcohol and tobacco consumption on laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer and to compare these across subsites (glottis, supraglottis, epilarynx, hypopharynx). Data from a hospital-based case-control study including 504 male cases (105 glottic cancers, 80 supraglottic cancers, 97 epilaryngeal cancers and 201 hypopharyngeal cancers) and 242 male controls with non-respiratory cancers were used for this analysis. Information about sociodemographic characteristics, detailed alcohol and tobacco consumption was collected through face-to-face interviews.

Occupational exposures and lung cancer in New Caledonia.

Aims: To study the associations between occupational exposures and the risk of lung cancer in New Caledonia.

Methods: All cases diagnosed between January 1993 and December 1995 (228 lung cancers) and 305 population controls were included. Detailed information on lifetime job history, smoking, and other potential risk factors was collected by interview.

Dietary factors and the risk of lung cancer in New Caledonia (South Pacific).

Our objective was to study the relations between the risk of lung cancer and dietary factors in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific. A population-based case-control study of respiratory cancers was conducted between 1993 and 1995 in New Caledonia; we analyzed data for 134 incident lung cancer cases (109 men and 25 women) and 295 controls (227 men and 68 women) who had completed a food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) associated with food and nutrient intakes were calculated with unconditional logistic regression, with adjustment for smoking, age, and ethnicity.

Sinonasal cancer and occupational exposures: a pooled analysis of 12 case-control studies.

Objective: In order to examine the associations between sinonasal cancer and occupational exposures other than wood dust and leather dust, the data from 12 case-control studies conducted in seven countries were pooled and reanalyzed.

Methods: The pooled data set included 195 adenocarcinoma cases (169 men and 26 women), 432 squamous cell carcinomas (330 men and 102 women), and 3136 controls (2349 men and 787 women). Occupational exposures to formaldehyde, silica dust, textile dust, coal dust, flour dust, asbestos, and man-made vitreous fibers were assessed with a job-exposure matrix.

Socioeconomic, demographic, occupational, and health factors associated with participation in a long-term epidemiologic survey: a prospective study of the French GAZEL cohort and its target population.

The purpose of this paper is to examine personal and health factors, both at the beginning of the study and thereafter, associated with participation in the GAZEL cohort, set up in 1989 in a large French company. The authors used logistic regression to analyze the associations between participation and data available for both participants (n = 20,093) and nonparticipants (n = 24,829). Higher participation was associated with male sex, marriage, children, managerial status, and residence in particular regions.

Validity of self-reported weight and height in the French GAZEL cohort.

Objective: To examine the validity of self-reported weight and height and the resulting body mass index (BMI), and to explore the associations between demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related factors on the one hand and bias in self-reported weight and height on the other, in order to determine the groups most likely to exhibit bias.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Subjects: 7350 middle-aged subjects, 5445 men and 1905 women, from the GAZEL cohort, who have been followed up since 1989 and work at the French national company Electricité De France-Gaz De France (EDF-GDF) in various occupations.

Laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer and occupational exposure to asbestos and man-made vitreous fibers: results of a case-control study.

Background: The data from a case-control study performed in France between 1989 and 1991 were used to test whether exposure to either asbestos or to man-made vitreous fibers (MMVF) is a risk factor for cancer of the larynx or the hypopharynx.

Methods: This study involved 315 incident cases of laryngeal cancer, 206 cases of hypopharyngeal cancer, and 305 hospital-based controls with other types of cancer, all recruited in 15 hospitals in six French cities. The subjects' past occupational exposure to asbestos and to four types of MMVF (mineral wool, refractory ceramic fibers, glass filaments, and microfibers) was evaluated based on their job history, with the aid of a job-exposure matrix.

Environmental exposure to tremolite and respiratory cancer in New Caledonia: a case-control study.

A case-control study on respiratory cancers was conducted in New Caledonia (South Pacific), where a high incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma had been observed. The disease pattern suggested an environmental exposure to asbestos. The first results showed that, in some areas, tremolite asbestos derived from local outcroppings was used as whitewash (locally named "pö").

Predictors of change in alcohol consumption among Frenchmen of the GAZEL study cohort.

Aims: To identify the predictors of changes in alcohol intake among French men.

Design: Longitudinal study over a 2-year period.

Setting: The GAZEL volunteer cohort comprising workers employed by Electricité de France-Gaz de France.

Psychosocial factors at work and sickness absence in the Gazel cohort: a prospective study.

Objective: To test whether psychosocial factors at work are predictors of rates of sickness absence.

Methods: The study population consisted of middle aged men and women employed by the French national electricity and gas company (EDF-GDF) in various occupations and followed up since 1989 by annual self administered questionnaires and independent data obtained from the medical and personnel departments of EDF-GDF. The 1995 questionnaire provided information about three psychosocial work factors: psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support at work.

Psychosocial factors at work and subsequent depressive symptoms in the Gazel cohort.

Objective: This study attempted to establish whether psychosocial factors at work are predictors of depressive symptoms in a prospective cohort of men and women employed in a wide variety of occupations by the French national company Electricité De France - Gaz De France (EDF-GDF).

Methods: This prospective cohort study followed the Gazel cohort by means of annual self-administered questionnaires and independent data obtained from the medical and personnel departments of the company. The self-administered questionnaire, in 1995, provided information about the psychosocial work environment characteristics, psychological job demands, decision latitude, and social support at work.

Psychosocial work environment and cardiovascular risk factors in an occupational cohort in France.

Study Objective: Concordant results have been reported in several studies for the effects of job stress on cardiovascular disease, but the potential mechanisms of these effects have seldom been explored. The aim of this study was therefore to examine, in women and men, the cross sectional relations between psychosocial work variables (psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support) and cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption).

Participants: The original cohort comprised 20,625 volunteers (men aged from 40 to 50 and women from 35 to 50) employed by the French Company Electricité De France-Gaz De France and followed up yearly since 1989.