Objectives: Lung cancer risk associated with occupational cleaning activities has been investigated in the population-based case-control study ICARE.
Methods: Occupational history was collected by standardized interviews. Jobs were first defined according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) codes and then categorized according to activity sectors. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated by unconditional logistic regression, separately for women (619 cases and 760 controls) and men (2265 and 2780).
Results: Thirty percent of women and 2.3% of men controls ever held a cleaner or care job. Women who worked as housemaids longer than 7 years showed an OR of 1.76 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.09 to 2.87] with respect to controls. Women employed in domestic service sector for a long time had an OR of 2.06 (95% CI 1.15 to 3.66).
Conclusion: We confirmed and redefined the association of lung cancer with occupational cleaning, which concerns a considerable proportion of women workers.