Increased risk of thyroid cancer among Norwegian women married to fishery workers – a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

The relationship between thyroid cancer in women and the occupation of their spouses was examined in a retrospective cohort study, with special reference to fishery. Of the 2.9 million women registered in the Central Population Registry of Norway on 31 December 1991, 1.2 million women had a spouse registered with an occupation in one or more of the censuses in 1960, 1970 or 1980. The women were assigned to ten broad categories based on the first digit of their husbands five-digit Nordic occupational classification code NYK, and a standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was calculated for each occupational category. The women were further subdivided and analysed in 71 groups defined by the first two digits of the NYK code. Among the women included in the study, a total of 2409 cases of thyroid cancer were reported to the cancer registry of Norway during 1960-92. A significantly elevated risk of thyroid cancer was found only among women whose spouses belonged to the occupational category 'agriculture, forestry or fishery' (n = 208 279), with a SIR of 1.13. In the group associated with 'fishing, whaling and sealing work' (n = 40 839), the risk was further increased (SIR 1.91, CI 1.65-2.21). An increased risk was also detected in the group associated with 'ship officers and pilots work' (n = 29 133) (SIR 1.35, CI 1.07-1.67). When allocating the women to southern and northern cohorts determined by their county of birth, a difference in risk was clearly present in all 10 occupational categories, with figures being 50-60% higher in the north. However, there was practically no difference in incidence between northern and southern cohorts among women associated with fishery work. Thus, the results obtained from this study indicate that being a fisherman's wife is associated with elevated risk of thyroid cancer, and our data support the suggested role of seafood as an aetiological factor.