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OBJECTIVES: Styrene was incorporated in the 12(th) Report on Carcinogens (RoC) based on sufficient experimental evidence in animals. The human evidence has been evaluated as limited by RoC and IARC. The objective of this study was to analyse the risk of haematopoetic malignancies and other cancers following occupational styrene exposure.METHOD: The cohort consists of 74 902 workers (84% men) in the Danish reinforced plastics industry, originating from 481 companies ever producing reinforced plastics in Denmark 1964-2009. We identified all workers in the National Supplementary Pension Fund Registry for which all employees are compulsory members. Cancer diagnoses were found in the National Cancer Registry. Standardised Incidence Rate Ratios (SIRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used for relative risk estimation.RESULTS: Among the 74 902 workers, we identified 10 374 cases of cancer accumulating 1.5 million person years. The overall SIR was 1.00 (95% CI 0.98-1.02). SIR for lymphatic and haematopoietic cancers was 0.99 (0.91-1.07). Among male workers we observed increased risk of buccal cavity and pharygeal cancers (SIR 1.24; 1.12-1.37), cancers of the respiratory system (SIR 1.33; 1.26-1.39), and bladder cancer (SIR 1.08; 1.0-1.17), and among female workers cancers of the respiratory system (SIR 1.41; 1.22-1.62).CONCLUSIONS: The cohort experiences the same overall cancer risk as the general population and no increased overall risk of malignant haematopoietic diseases was apparent. However, we observed increased risks for cancers that may be due to confounding from smoking and alcohol. Internal risk assessment that includes historical styrene exposure data will supplement the current findings.

OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus is common, can be disabling, and may impair concentration, hearing and sleep. Noise induced hearing loss, other subtypes of hearing loss and ototoxic drugs are well-documented risk factors for tinnitus. Psychosocial work factors, depression and anxiety may exacerbate tinnitus, cause tinnitus, or both. The objective is to investigate the relationship between noise exposure, psychosocial work factors, common mental disorders, and tinnitusMETHOD: A total of 554 workers within 10 manufacturing trades and children day-care participated in this cross-sectional study from 2009-2010. The study database contained information on individual short-term and long-term noise exposure levels, hearing levels and questionnaire information on common mental disorders and psychosocial work factors. Associations between noise exposure levels, hearing levels, depression, anxiety, burn-out symptoms, work-related stress and tinnitus will be analysed by use of multiple logistic regression analysis, taking a priori selected potential confounders into account.RESULTS: Preliminary results show that of the 554 participants, 77% were males an the mean age was 43 years, ranging from 20-64 years. Among the participants, 17% reported tinnitus, 16% had a hearing handicap (WHO-definition), 3% anxiety disorder, 14% burn-out symptoms, 4% depression, and 8% reported work-related stress.CONCLUSIONS: Tinnitus is expected to represent a heterogeneous group of underlying disorders. We aim at contributing to a better understanding of the relative importance of the possible underlying factors in a population of occupationally noise exposed workers. Risk analyses are in progress, and results will be presented at the conference.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate if parity, fertility treatment, body mass index (BMI), time to pregnancy (TTP), and engagement in physical exercise are risk factors for sickness absence during pregnancy weeks 10 to 30.METHOD: We use data from The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) and the Danish Register for Evaluation of Marginalisation (DREAM). DNBC contains information on 100 418 pregnancies included from 1996 until 2002. Around pregnancy weeks 12-16 the participants were interviewed by telephone and provided information on potential predictors, on occupational exposures, lifestyle factors and health. We excluded women, who were no longer pregnant at the time of the interview, were unemployed, multiple pregnant or had an obstetrical event within one year before the DNBC pregnancy. This resulted in a study population of 65 047 pregnancies. Outcome data were retrieved from DREAM, which contains information on sickness absence on a weekly basis. Data will be analysed using multivariate logistic regression models.RESULTS: Mean age of the participants was 30.5 years, 46% were nulliparous, 6.3% received fertility treatment, mean BMI was 23.6 kg/m(2). Prevalence of sickness absence until pregnancy week 30 was 36%. Preliminary results indicate that sickness absence is related to fertility treatment and obesity. Women receiving fertility treatment had increased odds of sickness absence in pregnancy week 30; OR: 1.31 (95% CI: 1.21-1.42). Obese women had increased odds of sickness absence compared to normal weight women; OR: 1.37 (95% CI: 1.28-1.48). More statistical analyses will be conducted.CONCLUSIONS: Final results and conclusions will be presented at the conference.

Impaired semen quality and testicular cancer may be linked through a testicular dysgenesis syndrome of foetal origin. The incidence of testis cancer has been shown to increase among Finnish men, whereas there is no recent publication describing temporal trends in semen quality. Therefore, we carried out a prospective semen quality study and a registry study of testis cancer incidence among Finnish men to explore recent trends. A total of 858 men were investigated in the semen quality study during 1998–2006. Median sperm concentrations were 67 (95% CI 57–80) million/mL, 60 (51–71) and 48 (39–60) for birth cohorts 1979–81, 1982–83 and 1987; total sperm counts 227 (189–272) million, 202 (170–240) and 165 (132–207); total number of morphologically normal spermatozoa 18 (14–23) million, 15 (12–19) and 11 (8–15). Men aged 10–59 years at the time of diagnosis with testicular cancer during 1954–2008 were included in the registry study, which confirmed the increasing incidence of testicular cancer in recent cohorts. These simultaneous and rapidly occurring adverse trends suggest that the underlying causes are environmental and, as such, preventable. Our findings necessitate not only further surveillance of male reproductive health but also research to detect and remove the underlying factors.

Udgivelsesdato: 2010-May-27

Aim: To evaluate the association between caesarean section and risk of developing asthma. Method: We evaluated this association in a Danish cohort, comprising of 11 147 mothers and their babies of which 7119 mother-child pairs were included in the analyses. The mothers' reported asthma data on their children were linked to hospitalization records on mode of delivery. Results: The adjusted odds ratio for developing asthma was 1.11 (95% CI, 0.88–1.39) for caesarean sections versus vaginal births. Conclusion: We found no evidence that children being delivered by caesarean section have an increased risk of asthma.

In this study, we compared sperm donors' and donor candidates' self-measured testicular volumes with testicular volumes obtained by an experienced examiner and investigated the association between the testicular volumes obtained by both methods and semen characteristics. We found that the participants obtained valid measurements of their own testicular volumes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine longitudinal changes in serum cobalamins, transcobalamin (TC) and haptocorrin (HC) during lactation and to investigate the influence of vitamin B12 supplementation on these parameters. DESIGN: A 9-month follow-up study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Lactating mothers (N=89) including 23 supplemented with vitamin B12 (1-18 microg/daily), 41 partly supplemented and 25 not supplemented. Blood samples collected 3 weeks (baseline) and 4 and 9 months post-partum were analysed for cobalamins, TC and HC. Both the total concentration and the cobalamin-saturated form (holo) of TC and HC were analysed. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in serum cobalamins or its binding proteins related to supplementation with vitamin B12 or the duration of lactation. Serum cobalamins remained unchanged from 3 weeks to 9 months post-partum. Total TC (holoTC) (median+/-s.e. pmol/l) decreased between 3 weeks (710+/-23 (85+/-12)) and 9 months (602+/-21 (76+/-11)) (P Udgivelsesdato: 2007-Feb

Udgivelsesdato: 26.03.09

AIM: The aim of this study was to describe and identify potential trends with respect to prevalence, incidence, age, sex, and autoimmune comorbidity of celiac disease (CD).PATIENTS AND METHODS: A Danish nationwide cohort study of CD using data from The National Patient Register. Patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis code of CD during the period 1977 to 2016 were identified. Information on sex, date of birth, death, or immigration was obtained from the Danish Civil Registration System, and autoimmune comorbidities were identified in the Danish National Patient Register. The CD cohort was compared with the general Danish population using a control cohort and aggregated data obtained from Statistics Denmark.RESULTS: The CD cohort consisted of 11 802 (65% women) patients. The median age at diagnosis of CD varied between 30 years in 1980-1984 and 45 years in 1995-1999 and 27 years in 2015-2016. The prevalence of CD in 1986 and 2016 was 14 and 180 per 100 000 persons, respectively, with a female/male ratio changing from 1.3 to 2.0. Incidence rates (per 100 000 person-years) changed from 1.6 in 1980-1984 to 15.2 in 2015-2016, with the largest increase among females aged 0-9 years. In 2016, prevalence of autoimmune comorbidities was 16.4% among the CD patients compared with 5.3% in the general population.CONCLUSION: The prevalence of diagnosed CD has doubled every decade in Denmark from 1986 to 2016, and in the same period the female/male ratio has increased and the median age at diagnosis has decreased. The prevalence of autoimmune comorbidity in 2016 was three times higher among CD patients compared with the general Danish population.

Objective To examine the association between low serum vitamin D concentration and estimates of male reproductive function. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting University hospital. Patient(s) From a Danish pregnancy cohort established in 1984–1987, 347 sons were selected for a study conducted in 2005–2006. Intervention(s) Semen parameters and reproductive hormones were related to vitamin D concentrations in 307 men. Main Outcome Measure(s) Semen characteristics and reproductive hormones. Result(s) A high vitamin D level was unexpectedly associated with lower crude median total sperm count and percentage of normal morphology sperm and a high level of crude median sex hormone–binding globulin and FSH. After adjustment, the associations attenuated to nonsignificant associations, except for sex hormone–binding globulin. Additionally, adjusted free androgen index was lower at higher vitamin D levels, and men with high vitamin D had 11% (95% confidence interval, 1%–20%) lower free androgen index compared with men with low vitamin D. Conclusion(s) These results do not indicate that low vitamin D is a risk factor for poor semen quality in a population of young healthy men, but we may not have enough men with low vitamin D levels to detect an effect. New studies should include a larger proportion of vitamin D–deficient men.