직업성 발암물질에 의한 국내 악성종양의 규모

Abstract

Objective: This paper aimed to provide estimates the burden of cancer attributable to occupational exposures in South Korea and to review the processes of estimating the population attributable fraction(PAF). Methods: The PAFs of occupational cancer were reviewed from previous studies. The number and proportion of cancer cases attributable to occupational carcinogens were estimated by multiplying the PAFs by recent Korean cancer data(up to 2016 for incidence and 2017 for death) obtained from the Statistics Korea. The estimation of PAFs included occupational exposures defined as definite or probable human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Results: In South Korea, an estimated 10,769 new cancer cases(9,017 among men, 1,752 among women) in 2016, and 7,030 cases of death from cancer(6,047 in men, 983 in women) in 2017, were attributable to occupational exposures, representing 1.5-4.7% of all new cancer cases(2.1-7.5% and 0.3-1.6% among men and women, respectively) and 2.7-8.9% of all cancer death cases(3.4-12.4% and 0.5-3.3% among men and women, respectively). Among men and women, lung cancer was the most impactful. The estimation process of PAFs, however, has a variety of uncertainties. Conclusions: Occupational exposures contribute to a substantial burden of cancer in South Korea. PAFs for cancer provide useful information for prevention initiatives and prioritizing health policies for workers. However, PAFs need to be interpreted cautiously and updated regularly.