Kurt Straif

International Agency for Research on Cancer · Evidence Synthesis and Classification

Background Low socioeconomic status (SES) groups showed increased lung cancer risks even after adjustment for smoking habits and other exposures to lung carcinogens. Although several biases were often indicated and discussed, only few studies quantified the impact of potential biases. Methods We conducted a bias analysis on the association of lung...

Background Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and nickel (Ni) are known occupational carcinogens, with frequent exposures, for example, in welding-related activities. However, limited evidence exists on the exposure-response relationship of Cr(VI) or Ni with lung-cancer risk. We estimated lung-cancer risks based on quantitative indices of occupational ex...

Background Increased lung-cancer risks for low socioeconomic status (SES) groups are only partially attributable to smoking habits. Little effort has been made to investigate the persistent risks related to low SES by quantification of potential biases. Methods Based on 12 case–control studies, including 18 centers of the international SYNERGY pro...

Exposure to artificial light-at-night (ALAN) has been linked to cancer risk. Few meta-analyses on this topic have reviewed only breast cancer. This study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze existing studies on ALAN exposure and cancer incidence, thoroughly evaluating exposure assessment quality. We considered observational studies (coho...

Objective In this discussion paper, we provide a narrative review of past and present occupational cancer studies in the journal with a viewpoint towards future occupational cancer research. Method We reviewed all references in the journal that mentioned cancer according to relevance to etiology, cancer type, agent type, study design, and study po...

Background Altered meal timing patterns can disrupt the circadian system and affect metabolism. Our aim was to describe sex-specific chrono-nutritional patterns, assess their association with body mass index (BMI) and investigate the role of sleep in this relationship. Methods We used the 2018 questionnaire data from the population-based Genomes f...

Background Limited evidence exists on the exposure-response relationship of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) or nickel with lung-cancer risk. We estimated lung-cancer risks based on quantitative indices of occupational exposure to each metal, and their interaction with smoking habits. Methods Fourteen case-control studies from Europe and Canada (16,90...

Introduction Emerging evidence links circadian and sleep disruption with infectious disease outcomes. We examined the association of exposure to night shift work and sleep disruption with COVID-19 infection outcomes in a prospective cohort study. Methods We included 3,319 adult participants from a population-based cohort study in Catalonia, Spain...

Summary Background Future trends in disease burden and drivers of health are of great interest to policy makers and the public at large. This information can be used for policy and long-term health investment, planning, and prioritisation. We have expanded and improved upon previous forecasts produced as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injur...

Background Understanding the health consequences associated with exposure to risk factors is necessary to inform public health policy and practice. To systematically quantify the contributions of risk factor exposures to specific health outcomes, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 aims to provide comprehensiv...

Summary Background Future trends in disease burden and drivers of health are of great interest to policy makers and the public at large. This information can be used for policy and long-term health investment, planning, and prioritisation. We have expanded and improved upon previous forecasts produced as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injur...

Background. We investigated mortality in workers of the world’s largest chrysotile mine and enrichment factories located in the town of Asbest, Russian Federation. Methods. This historical cohort study included all workers employed for at least 1 year between 1975 and 2010 and follow-up until the end of 2015. Cumulative exposure to dust was estimat...

Objectives: The quantitative job-exposure matrix SYN-JEM consists of various dimensions: job-specific estimates, region-specific estimates, and prior expert ratings of jobs by the semi-quantitative DOM-JEM. We analyzed the effect of different JEM dimensions on the exposure-response relationships between occupational silica exposure and lung cancer...

Background We investigated mortality in workers of the world’s largest chrysotile mine and enrichment factories located in the town of Asbest, Russian Federation. Methods This historical cohort study included all workers employed for at least 1 year between 1975 and 2010 and follow-up until the end of 2015. Cumulative exposure to dust was estimate...

Background: While much research has been done to identify individual workplace lung carcinogens, little is known about joint effects on risk when workers are exposed to multiple agents. Objectives: We investigated the pairwise joint effects of occupational exposures to asbestos, respirable crystalline silica, metals (i.e., nickel, chromium-VI),...

Objectives This study aims to present an overview of the formal recognition of COVID-19 as occupational disease (OD) or injury (OI) across Europe. Methods A COVID-19 questionnaire was designed by a task group within COST-funded OMEGA-NET and sent to occupational health experts of 37 countries in WHO European region, with a last update in April 202...

Rationale: Benzene has been classified as carcinogenic to humans, but there is limited evidence linking benzene exposure to lung cancer. Objectives: We aimed to examine the relationship between occupational benzene exposure and lung cancer. Methods: Subjects from 14 case-control studies across Europe and Canada were pooled. We used a quantitat...

Objectives This study aims to present an overview of the formal recognition of COVID-19 as occupational disease (OD) or injury (OI) across Europe. Methods A COVID-19 questionnaire was designed by a task group within COST-funded OMEGA-NET and sent to occupational health experts of 37 countries in WHO European region, with a last update in April 2022...

Background: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs program assembles expert working groups who publish a critical review and evaluation of data on agents of interest. These comprehensive reviews provide a unique opportunity to identify research needs to address classification uncertainties. A multidisciplinary expert rev...

Purpose Some pesticides may increase the risk of certain lymphoid malignancies, but few studies have examined Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). In this exploratory study, we examined associations between agricultural use of 22 individual active ingredients and 13 chemical groups and HL incidence. Methods We used data from three agricultural cohorts participa...

Use of artificial sweeteners (AS) such as aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin and sucralose is widespread. We evaluated the association of use of aspartame and other AS with cancer. In total 1881 colorectal, 1510 breast, 972 prostate and 351 stomach cancer and 109 chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) cases and 3629 population controls from the Spanish M...

Background: Ambient air pollution has been associated with COVID-19 disease severity and antibody response induced by infection. Objectives: We examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and vaccine-induced antibody response. Methods: This study was nested in an ongoing population-based cohort, COVICAT, the GCAT-Genom...

Introduction Little is known about joint effects between occupational carcinogens on lung cancer risk. We investigated pairwise exposure to five occupational exposures: asbestos, respirable crystalline silica, metals (i.e. nickel, chromium VI), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pah), on lung cancer risk, both overall and by major subtypes, whil...

Introduction The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs program assembles expert Working Groups who publish a critical review and evaluation of existing data on agents of interest. These comprehensive reviews provide a unique opportunity to identify research needs to address classification uncertainties. A multidisciplinary e...

Introduction To summarize the epidemiological evidence on occupational asbestos exposure and the risk of esophageal, stomach and colorectal cancer. Methods The search strategy was developed by investigators with occupational hygiene, exposure assessment, cancer epidemiology, and systematic review expertise; and applied to MEDLINE, Web of Science,...

Introduction During the first pandemic lockdown in Spain certain workers have been at increased risk of COVID-19. Results from published studies are heterogeneous, possibly due to differences in public health interventions, availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), virulence of variants of concern, population-wide immunity or methodologi...

Introduction Benzene is widely present in various industries and ubiquitously in the general environment. Benzene has been classified as a known human carcinogen, but there is limited evidence linking benzene exposure with lung cancer. However, if such an association exists, this could have large implications for occupational and environmental risk...

Introduction Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) causes skin cancers, is a risk factor for cataract, and the primary predictor of serum vitamin D levels, but there are significant knowledge gaps in several health outcomes. Outdoor workers are exposed to high levels of solar UVR. The objective was to develop a European quantitative job-exposure matrix...

Introduction Night shift work and sleep deprivation have been associated with lower antibody responses induced by vaccination against seasonal influenza, meningitis-C and hepatitis A. We examined the association of exposure to night shift work and sleep deprivation with antibody levels induced by COVID-19 vaccines. Materials and Methods This study...

Background In February 2021, over one hundred scientists and policy experts participated in a web-based Workshop to discuss the ways that divergent evaluations of evidence and scientific uncertainties are used to delay timely protection of human health and the environment from exposures to hazardous agents. The Workshop arose from a previous worksh...

Climate change, urbanisation, chemical pollution and disruption of ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, affect our health and wellbeing. Research is crucial to be able to respond to the current and future challenges that are often complex and interconnected by nature. The HERA Agenda, summarised in this commentary, identifies six thematic resea...

Background The study of impact of lockdowns on individual health-related behaviors has produced divergent results. Purpose To identify patterns of change in multiple health-related behaviors analyzed as a whole, and their individual determinants. Methods Between March and August 2020, we collected data on smoking, alcohol, physical activity, weig...

Data from human and animal studies are highly suggestive of an influence of time of day of vaccine administration on host immune responses. In this population-based study, we aimed to investigate the effect of time of day of administration of a COVID-19 vector vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca), on SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike S1 immunoglobulin (IgG)...

This chapter provides a historical and global overview on global trends in cancer incidence, disparities, and social inequalities among countries and within countries, with a particular attention given to cancer in children and adolescents. To reduce social inequalities, the author proposes to reexamine research priorities: first, to generate knowl...

Cancer is the first or second cause of death in 134 countries, the leading cause of death in most high-income countries (i.e., 10 million deaths in 2020), and the leading cause of death by disease in American children. An estimated 19.3 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed across the world each year, and this number is expected to rise to 29 m...

Title page, table of contents, and acknowledgments for The Rising Global Cancer Pandemic

There is limited evidence regarding the exposure‐effect relationship between lung‐cancer risk and hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) or nickel. We estimated lung‐cancer risks in relation to quantitative indices of occupational exposure to Cr(VI) and nickel and their interaction with smoking habits. We pooled 14 case‐control studies from Europe and Canada...

Circadian nutritional behaviors, defined by the daily eating/fasting cycle, have been linked with breast cancer. This study aimed to further disentangle the association of nighttime fasting duration and time of breakfast with breast cancer risk. We analyzed data from 1,181 breast cancer cases and 1,326 population controls from the Spanish multicase...

To date the true global incidence of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) and the underlying risk factors remain to be fully defined, in particular, the role of occupational and environmental factors. Currently, the putative role of asbestos exposure as a risk factor for iCCA is gaining increased attention in the international scientific communit...

Purpose Mental health conditions may affect outcome of COVID-19 disease, while exposure to stressors during the pandemic may impact mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine these factors in relation to ocurrence of depression and anxiety after the first outbreak in Spain. Methods We contacted 9515 participants from a population-base...

Objectives Animal bioassays have demonstrated convincing evidence of the potential carcinogenicity to humans of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), but limitations in cohort studies have been identified, among which is the healthy worker survivor effect (HWSE). We aimed to address this bias in a pooled study of four cohorts of TiO 2 workers. Methods We rea...

Background: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) occurs widely in occupational settings. We investigated the association between occupational exposure to PAH and lung cancer risk and joint effects with smoking within the SYNERGY project. Methods: We pooled 14 case-control studies with information on lifetime occupational and smokin...

Importance: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019) provided systematic estimates of incidence, morbidity, and mortality to inform local and international efforts toward reducing cancer burden. Objective: To estimate cancer burden and trends globally for 204 countries and territories and by Sociodemographic...

Background The carcinogenicity of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) has been evaluated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2011. Based on limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and in animals, RF EMF were classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). In 2018, based on a survey amongst RF expe...

Background Disability and mortality burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have risen worldwide; however, the NCD burden among adolescents remains poorly described in the EU. Methods Estimates were retrieved from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. Causes of NCDs were analysed at three different levels o...

Background: Areca nut (AN), the principal ingredient of betel quid (BQ) has been categorized as a human carcinogen associated with various cancers of upper aerodigestive tract. However, there has been no attempt at summarizing the risk reversal of oral and other cancers after cessation of BQ with or without tobacco (BQ+T/BQ-T). Objective: To ana...

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15–39 years) are lacking. To address this...

Background: Solar UltraViolet Radiation (UVR) is considered the most relevant occupational carcinogenic exposure in terms of the number of workers exposed (i.e., outdoor workers) and UVR-induced skin cancers are among the most frequent types of occupational cancers worldwide. This review aims to collect and evaluate all the available preventive int...

Introduction During the first lockdown in Spain (March-June, 2020) essential workers may have been at increased risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) via occupational exposure. Results from published studies are heterogeneous. Methods Ongoing population-based cohort studies from Catalonia were pooled to form the COVICAT study. A random sub-p...

Background Employment is an essential component of adult life, and occupation is a major determinant of health. Despite profound changes in working life, there has been little coordinated European occupational health research. Objectives We present results from the HERA international project funded by the EU Horizon2020 program, to set priorities...

Introduction Hodgkin lymphoma is a rare cancer of B-lymphocytes diagnosed in approximately 80,000 individuals worldwide each year. While the use of some pesticides may increase the risk of other lymphoid malignancies, associations with Hodgkin lymphoma remain poorly understood. Objectives We investigated associations of use of 22 pesticide active...

The SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemics has raised several challenges at the workplace. Within the omega-net COVID-19 taskforce, we developed standardized COVID-19 questionnaires for occupational research, a multi-country COVID-19 Job Exposure Matrix, and research on COVID-19 as an occupational disease. The compiled questionnaire resource covers all key asp...

Introduction We used hierarchical and penalization models to explore occupational risks associated with lung cancer while accounting for exposures to multiple known carcinogenic exposures. Methods We pooled lung cancer case-control study subjects from 14 European and Canadian studies. Associations between employment in 1,506 five-digit ISCO-68 occ...

Introduction A historical cohort study in workers occupationally exposed to chrysotile was set up in the town of Asbest, the Russian Federation, to study their cause-specific mortality, with a focus on cancer. Objective Describe the Asbest Chrysotile Cohort established in 2013. Methods Cohort enrolment was based on employment records from JSC Ura...

Nighttime fasting has been inconclusively associated with a reduced risk of cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate this association in relation to prostate cancer risk. We examined data from 607 prostate cancer cases and 848 population controls who had never worked in night shift work from the Spanish multicase-control (MCC) study, 20...

Background Existing methods to estimate lifetime exposure to occupational carcinogenic agents could be improved. Objective We propose a new method to estimate the lifetime prevalence of exposure to occupational carcinogens using the example of painters and workers of the rubber industry in France. Methods From census, we calculated the proportion...

Over the last 50 years, occupational exposure to carcinogenic agents has been widely regulated in France. Report population-attributable fraction (PAF) and number of attributable cancer cases linked to occupational exposure in France based on an updated method to estimate lifetime occupational exposure prevalence. Population-level prevalence of lif...

Objective Areca nut is one of the most widely consumed substances globally, after nicotine, ethanol and caffeine and classified as carcinogenic to humans. This study examines the disparity and determinants of areca nut consumption with and without tobacco in India. Design Nationally representative cross-sectional study. Participants We used the n...

Objectives: We investigated general job demands as a risk factor for lung cancer as well as their role in the association between occupational prestige and lung cancer. Methods: In 13 case-control studies on lung cancer, as part of the international SYNERGY project, we applied indices for physical (PHI) and psychosocial (PSI) job demands - each...