Residential risk of leukemia for individual living near petrochemical industrial complexes
Citation:
Lin, ChengKuan, Y. Hsu, AND R. Nachman. Residential risk of leukemia for individual living near petrochemical industrial complexes. International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Annual Conference, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS, August 25 - 29, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this research was to improve understanding of leukemia risk among vulnerable populations living in close proximity to petroindustrial complexes.
Description:
Studies of human exposure to petrochemical products reported associations with higher risk of hematopoietic cancer. However, the risk of leukemia for individual living close to petrochemical industrial complexes (PIC) remained unknown and controversial. This study aimed to estimate the health impact for resident living in the vicinity of PIC, especially those belonging to vulnerable groups, such as children, or different genders.We followed Cochrane meta-analysis protocol to analyze findings from 21 subjects from nine published research articles in seven countries. A random effect model was applied to estimate the pooled effect due to high heterogeneity between the selected studies. Meta-regression and subgroup analysis were further applied to identify heterogeneity. We also performed sensitivity analysis, Funnel plot, Egger’s test, and Begg’s test to assess possible publication bias. Residents living close to PIC have a 27% greater risk of leukemia (RR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.08–1.50). Female residents (RR = 3.17, 95% CI = 2.13–4.73) and children under 10 years old (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.23–6.13) are the most vulnerable groups. Those living as far as 7.5 km from PICs still have an elevated risk of leukemia by a factor of 18% (95% CI = 1.05–1.33). Our study reveals a significantly increased risk of leukemia incidence among residents in the vicinity of PICs, especially among females and young children, even from distances as great as 7.5 km. The results of this research shed light on health disparities from residential exposures. Future directions of this research include assessing risk of bias in the studies in this meta-analysis using tools adapted from the Cochrane protocol for evaluation of environmental epidemiology studies.