Slawomir Brzeznicki

Publications of Slawomir Brzeznicki

• Occupational exposure to organic solvents and breast cancer in women.

  Authors: Beata Peplonska, Patricia Stewart, Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Jolanta Lissowska, Louise A Brinton, Jan P Gromiec, Slawomir Brzeznicki, Rose Yang, Mark Sherman, Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Aaron Blair

  Occupational and environmental medicine. 10/2009;

  BACKGROUND: Although studies in rodents suggest possible associations between exposure to organic solvents and breast cancer, the evidence in humans is limited. METHODS: We evaluated job histories ofBACKGROUND: Although studies in rodents suggest possible associations between exposure to organic solvents and breast cancer, the evidence in humans is limited. METHODS: We evaluated job histories of 2383 incident breast cancer cases, and 2502 controls who participated in a large population-based case-control study in Poland and were diagnosed during 2000-2003. Industrial hygienists reviewed occupational histories and developed exposure metrices for total organic solvents and benzene. Unconditional logistic regression analyses estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as the measure of association with breast cancer risk, controlling for breast cancer risk factors. Stratified analyses examined the potential modification by known breast cancer risk factors. Associations were also evaluated by estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status and by other clinical characteristics of the tumours using polytomous regression analyses. RESULTS: Women who ever worked at jobs with organic solvents exposure had a small but nonsignificantly increased breast cancer risk (OR=1.16; 95%CI 0.99 to 1.4), A significant association was present for ER and PR negative tumors (OR 1.40; 95% CI 1.1 to 1.8, but not for tumors with both positive receptors (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.8 to 1.2,(p-heterogeneity: 0.008)). However, we did not observe trends with increasing level of exposure. Known breast cancer risk factors did not modify the association with organic solvents and breast cancer risk. No significant association with risk was found for benzene exposure (OR 1.00; 95% CI 0.8 to 1.3). CONCLUSION: Our study provides weak evidence for a possible association between occupational exposure to organic solvents as a class and breast cancer risk. The association might be limited to hormone receptor negative tumors.

• Occupation and breast cancer risk in Polish women: a population-based case-control study.

  Authors: Beata Peplonska, Patricia Stewart, Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Jennifer Rusiecki, Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Jolanta Lissowska, Alicja Bardin-Mikolajczak, Witold Zatonski, Jan Gromiec, Slawomir Brzeznicki, Louise A Brinton, Aaron Blair

  American journal of industrial medicine. 03/2007; 50(2):97-111.

  BACKGROUND: The etiology of breast cancer is not well understood and the role of occupational exposures in breast carcinogenesis is still uncertain. METHODS: The population-based case-control studyBACKGROUND: The etiology of breast cancer is not well understood and the role of occupational exposures in breast carcinogenesis is still uncertain. METHODS: The population-based case-control study included 2,386 incident breast cancer cases diagnosed in 2000-2003, and 2,502 controls. Lifetime occupational histories and information on other potential breast cancer risk factors were obtained through personal interviews. Conditional logistic regression analyses calculated odds ratios (ORs) associated with various occupations and industries after control for potential confounders. RESULTS: We found statistically significant excesses of breast cancer among engineers (OR=2.0; 95% CI: 1.0-3.8), economists (2.1; 1.1-3.8), sales occupations-retail (1.2; 1.0-1.5), and other sales occupations (1.2; 1.0-1.5). Industries showing significantly elevated risks included special trade contractors (2.2; 1.2-4.3), electronic and electric equipment manufacturers (1.7; 1.1-2.7); and public administration/general government n.e.c. (2.7; 1.3-5.7). Each of these findings was supported by a statistically significant positive trend for duration of employment (P<0.05). A decreased breast cancer risk was observed in janitors and cleaners (0.7; 0.5-0.8). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found few associations for breast cancer and occupations or industries. The suggestive findings for the electronic and electric equipment manufacturing industry and for the occupations with potential exposure to magnetic fields deserve further evaluation.

• Assessing exposure misclassification by expert assessment in multicenter occupational studies.

  Authors: Andrea 't Mannetje, Joelle Fevotte, Tony Fletcher, Paul Brennan, Joszef Legoza, Maria Szeremi, Ana Paldy, Slawomir Brzeznicki, Jan Gromiec, Carmen Ruxanda-Artenie, Rodica Stanescu Dumitru, Nicolai Ivanov, Raphael Shterengorz, Lubica Hettychova, Daniela Krizanova, Adrian Cassidy, Martie van Tongeren, Paolo Boffetta

  Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.). 10/2003; 14(5):585-92.

  BACKGROUND: In a multicenter case-control study of lung cancer in central and eastern Europe and in Liverpool, exposure to occupational agents was assessed by teams of local experts. We performed anBACKGROUND: In a multicenter case-control study of lung cancer in central and eastern Europe and in Liverpool, exposure to occupational agents was assessed by teams of local experts. We performed an interteam agreement study to estimate the levels of exposure misclassification and the expected attenuation of the risk estimate. METHODS: Eight teams of experts and a reference rater assessed exposure to 70 putative lung carcinogens for 19 jobs. Agreement among teams was calculated through Cohen's kappa, sensitivity, and specificity. RESULTS: Each team showed an overall fair to good agreement with the reference (kappa between 0.53 and 0.64). The agreement among teams in the presence of exposure was excellent for 9 agents, fair to good for 16, and poor for 29. For all agents the specificity was high (average 0.94), although sensitivity varied considerably. CONCLUSIONS: This study of expert exposure assessment showed a small range in reliability among teams of experts, but large differences among agents. This paper presents the range in levels of misclassification that can be expected using experts for assessing occupational exposure to different agents, and the attenuation of the odds ratio that can be expected to result from this misclassification.