Epidemiology of organic solvents and connective tissue disease

Table 2 Summary of epidemiological studies of scleroderma and solvent exposure

	Men		Women
Agent/Study	OR	95% Cl	OR	95% Cl	Comments on exposure assessment
Any solvent
Lundberg et al [43]	NR		NR		JEM
Nietert et al [38]	2.9	1.2-7.1	0.6	0.2-1.9	JEM. Maximum intensity of exposure
Silman and Jones [39]	1.7	0.7-4.1	*	*	ER. (General practitioner controls)
Silman and Jones [39]	2.3	0.9-6.2	*	*	ER. (Friend controls)
Garabrant et al (manuscript submitted)	*	*	2.0	1.5-2.5	ER
Paint thinners and removers
Garabrant et al (manuscript submitted)	*	*	2.0	1.5-2.6	ER
Aliphatic hydrocarbons
Lundberg et al [43]	2.1	0.8-5.5	NR		JEM. It is not clear that the authors could
					differentiate aliphatic hydrocarbons from
					other solvents
Gasoline
Lundberg et al [43]	NR		NR		JEM
Garabrant et al (manuscript submitted)	*	*	1.3	0.7-2.6	ER
Benzene
Nietert et al [38]	2.4	0.8-7.1	1.1	0.3-3.9	JEM. Maximum intensity of exposure
Garabrant et al (manuscript submitted)	*	*	0.8	0.2-2.6	ER
Trichloroethylene
Nietert et al [38]	3.3	1.0-10.3	0.9	0.3-2.3	JEM. Maximum intensity of exposure
Garabrant et al (manuscript submitted)	*	*	1.9	0.6-6.6	ER
Trichloroethane
Nietert et al [38]	2.7	†	1.4	0.4-4.6	JEM. Maximum intensity of exposure
Garabrant et al (manuscript submitted)	*	*	0.9	0.3-2.8	ER

NR, not reported (presumed non-significant); ER, expert review ofself-reported exposure; JEM, Exposures assigned by use of job exposure matrixwithout self reported exposure; OR, odds ratio. ^*Not studied;^†confidence interval (CI) not given.

ISSN: 1478-6362