Abstract
This retrospective epidemiologic study is aimed at the health status of a cohort of 7 942 subjects occupationally exposed to carcinogens in different sectors of the Czech economy in the period 1998-2007, including 3 586 health care providers. By means of Cox regression model, comparing an occurrence of cancer in the groups defined according to occupation in the different economic sectors, we found that besides expected factors such as age, gender, and smoking, the risk of cancer was increased in health care providers (HR=1.49, 95% CI=(1.05-2.10), p=0.024) and in subjects simultaneously exposed to more than two carcinogens (HR=2.35, 95% CI=(1.15-4.83), p=0.019).
The fact that 84.5 % of the health care providers were followed up because of occupational exposure to cytostatic drugs may explain the increased risk of cancer in this particular occupational group.