KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the association between occupational solar exposure and BCC.
- Researchers noticed that current evidence does not support an increased BCC risk for regular outdoor workers due to varied associations in studies with low and high selection bias.
Numerous studies and systematic reviews have explored the relationship between occupational solar exposure and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). However, deficiencies in previous reviews, including issues with included/excluded studies, risk estimates, and selection bias assessment, prompted our focus on reviewing epidemiologic studies. Andrea Wendt and the team aimed to address these deficits and employ meta-(regression) analyses for a comprehensive summary of risk estimates.
They performed an inclusive analysis by systematically searching PubMed (including MEDLINE) and Embase for epidemiologic studies. The evaluation of studies focused on 4 key aspects of risk of bias assessments, namely, selection of subjects (selection bias), exposure variables, outcome variables, and data analysis.
About 56 references were identified, with 32 selected for meta-(regression) analyses. The overall pooled risk estimate for BCC comparing high/present vs. low/absent occupational solar exposure was 1.20 (95% CI 1.02-1.43). Among studies without major deficits in data analysis, the estimate was 1.10 (95% CI 0.91-1.33). Pooled risk estimates for studies with low and high risk of selection bias (RoSB) were 0.83 (95% CI 0.73-0.93) and 1.95 (95% CI 1.42-2.67), respectively. The definitions of exposure and outcome variables showed no correlation with study risk estimates. Studies with low RoSB in populations with the same latitude or lower than Germany had a pooled risk estimate of 1.01 (95% CI 0.88-1.15).
The study concluded that, due to varied associations in studies with low and high RoSB, the current epidemiologic evidence does not support the conclusion that regular outdoor workers have an increased risk of BCC.
The study is sponsored by Projekt DEAL
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38170370/
Wendt A, Möhner M, et.al(2024). “Occupational solar exposure and basal cell carcinoma. A review of the epidemiologic literature with meta-analysis focusing on particular methodological aspects.” Eur J Epidemiol. 2024 Jan;39(1):13-25. doi: 10.1007/s10654-023-01061-w. Epub 2024 Jan 3. PMID: 38170370; PMCID: PMC10810945.
