Analysis of the occurrence of professionlinked tumor diseases reported in the Czech Republic in the years 1991–2004

Overview

In the years 1991–2004 there have been reported in the Czech Republic 868 cases of profession-linked tumor disease representing 2.4% of all occupational diseases over that period. The greatest number of cases has been found in the year 1991 – a total of 100 cases representing 0.21% of the overall number of tumor diseases in the Czech Republic reported to the oncological registry. The least number of cases of profession-linked tumor disease has been acknowledged in the year 2004, 26 cases in all. While the absolute number of profession linked malignant neoplasms reported in the Czech Republic in 2002 was lower by 51% cases than in the year 1991, the number of all malignant neoplasms reported to the oncological registry in 2002 (64,525 tumors) was higher by 17,212 cases (by 36.4%) than in the year 1991. The same trend was noted also in the incidence of tumor diseases.

The greatest number of profession-linked tumor diseases was reported in the Central Bohemian Region (61.5% of cases). The cause of profession-linked tumors was ionizing radiation (81.7% of cases), asbestos (10.8% of cases) and chemical substances (7.5% of cases). Profession-linked tumors reported in the Czech Republic over the years 1991 through 2004 have been analyzed by gender, diagnosis, branch of economic activity, profession, age, and duration of exposure. In the conclusion there have been analyzed the causes of the falling trend in the numbers of reported profession-linked diseases.

Key words:
malignant tumors – occupational disease – noxae – profession – age – exposure.