Cohort study of the population exposed to dioxin after the Seveso, Italy accident: Cancer incidence results, 1977-2012

Introduction On July 10, 1976 an explosion in a factory near Seveso, Italy caused the contamination of a surrounding area with 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The area was divided in three zones named A (very high pollution, N=700 residents at the time of the accident), B (high pollution, N=4,800), and R (low pollution, N=31000). The population living in that area and in a surrounding non-polluted (non-ABR, N=181,000) zone is under surveillance for mortality and cancer incidence. We present preliminary results of the extended (1997-2012) cancer incidence follow-up. Methods In 1977-2006, potential cancer cases were identified with linkages with hospital admission databases and final diagnosis (cancer site, morphology, incidence date) was ascertained after manually reviewing clinical records. For the period 2007-2012 we exploited the Brianza Cancer Registry data. Using non-ABR zone as reference, we calculated age-adjusted rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Poisson regressi...