Pooled analysis of petroleum case control studies

This project investigated the risk of leukemia from exposure to benzene in the petroleum industry. The aims of the study were to estimate the exposure-response relationship for benzene and leukemia and its subtypes and to investigate the induction period from first exposure to leukaemia diagnosis or death. Cases of leukemia and selected controls drawn from three similar petroleum industry cohorts based in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia were pooled. The exposure to benzene from specific jobs, operations and activities is individually estimated for the cases and controls. The risk associated with different levels of exposure was calculated.

This project was supported by Conservation of Clean Air and Water in Europe, the American Petroleum Institute, the Aromatic Producers Association and the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute.

Chief Investigators

  • A/Prof Deborah Glass, Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, Monash University
  • Dr AR Schnatter, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences Inc. (Canada)
  • Dr Lesley Rushton, Imperial College, London (UK)
  • Prof Malcolm Sim, Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, Monash University

Publications

GLASS D, Armstrong T, et al. Ensuring comparability of benzene exposure estimates across three nested case-control studies in the petroleum industry in support of a pooled epidemiological analysis. Chemico-Biological Interactions. 2010;184:101-111.

GLASS D, Schnatter AR, et al. Risk of myeloproliferative disease and chronic myeloid leukaemia following exposure to low level benzene in a nested case-control study of petroleum workers. Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 2014;71:266-274.

Rushton L, Schnatter AR, et al. Acute myeloid and chronic lymphoid leukaemias and exposure to low-level benzene among petroleum workers."British Journal of Cancer. 2013;110:783-787.

Schnatter AR, GLASS DC, et al. Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Benzene Exposure Among Petroleum Workers: An International Pooled Analysis. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2012;104(22):1724-1737.