Introduction:

Incidence rates of bladder cancer according to proximity to oil refineries are largely unknown. We sought to determine proximity of oil refineries and bladder cancer incidence in the State of Texas which is home to the largest number of oil refineries in the United States.

Methods:

We used the Texas Cancer Registry database to identify patients diagnosed with bladder cancer from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2014. We linked this to the U.S. census data and County Health Ranking and Roadmaps database to control for smoking rates, atmospheric particulate matter (PM 2.5) and oil well distributions. Risk ratios were adjusted using a Poisson regression model.

Results:

A total of 14,924 incident bladder cancer cases were identified. Patients living within 0-10 miles were older (71.0 vs. 69.6 yrs), more likely female (26.9% vs. 23.1%), African-American race/ethnicity (13.3% vs. 4.4%), and more advanced disease (distant/metastatic: 4.8% vs. 3.6%) than patients residing 20-30 miles from an oil refinery (all p<0.001). In adjusted analysis, patients living within 0-10 miles vs. 20-30 miles had an increased risk of bladder cancer (Risk Ratio (RR), 1.12: 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 1.07-1.17). Moreover, we observed further increased of advanced stage bladder cancer among patients living 0-10 miles vs. 20-30 miles from an oil refinery (distant/metastatic: RR 1.34: 95% CI 1.06-1.69).

Conclusion:

These findings suggest increased risk of bladder cancer according to proximity to an oil refinery. Further research in additional cohorts using individual level data are needed to confirm these findings.

Funding: This study was conducted with the support of a Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) Career Development Award (W81XWH1710576) and the Herzog Foundation (SBW). This study was supported by a Center for Translational Science Award by the NIH (TL1TR001440 and UL1TR001439) (MF).