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Professional painters have a dramatically higher risk of getting bladder cancer than people in other occupations, new research shows.
The longer a person works as a painter -- defined as someone who paints houses, construction sites and aerospace projects -- the greater the chance he or she will develop the illness later in life, according to the study. Artists and decorators weren't included.
Lead author Neela Guha of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, and her team analyzed nearly 3,000 cases of bladder cancer in painters reported in 41 different studies.
"This analysis convincingly shows that painters have a nearly 30 percent increased risk of developing bladder cancer compared to the general population," Guha told AOL Health in an e-mail. "This figure remained robust even after accounting for smoking history and other occupational exposures. The risk increased with increasing years of employment as a painter."
People who paint for a living are exposed to some of the same chemicals found in cigarette smoke, including aromatic amines, according to the research.
"Because several million people are employed as painters worldwide, even a modest increase in the relative risk is remarkable," the authors wrote in their study, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The significantly higher chance of developing bladder cancer was even evident after contributing conditions like genetics were taken into account, suggesting that painting professionally is, by itself, a risk factor for the disease.
Researchers said that female painters may be more prone to contracting the illness than males, but only a handful of the studies they analyzed separated results by gender.
What was clear from the findings, the authors said, is that the length of time people work as painters is linked to the likelihood that they will get bladder cancer, with those in the profession more than 10 years at a higher risk than those employed for less than a decade.
The study wasn't able to pinpoint specifically which chemicals and agents were responsible for painters' heightened chance of developing cancer of the bladder, since the participants analyzed were involved in different types of work and had varying levels of exposure to paint. The paints themselves also had different chemical compositions.
Guha offered advice to people currently working as painters.
"To reduce exposures, painters should work in wear clothing and gloves to minimize exposure to the skin, wear a mask and work in a well-ventilated environment," she said in her e-mail to AOL Health.
The longer a person works as a painter -- defined as someone who paints houses, construction sites and aerospace projects -- the greater the chance he or she will develop the illness later in life, according to the study. Artists and decorators weren't included.
Lead author Neela Guha of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, and her team analyzed nearly 3,000 cases of bladder cancer in painters reported in 41 different studies.
"This analysis convincingly shows that painters have a nearly 30 percent increased risk of developing bladder cancer compared to the general population," Guha told AOL Health in an e-mail. "This figure remained robust even after accounting for smoking history and other occupational exposures. The risk increased with increasing years of employment as a painter."
People who paint for a living are exposed to some of the same chemicals found in cigarette smoke, including aromatic amines, according to the research.
"Because several million people are employed as painters worldwide, even a modest increase in the relative risk is remarkable," the authors wrote in their study, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The significantly higher chance of developing bladder cancer was even evident after contributing conditions like genetics were taken into account, suggesting that painting professionally is, by itself, a risk factor for the disease.
Researchers said that female painters may be more prone to contracting the illness than males, but only a handful of the studies they analyzed separated results by gender.
What was clear from the findings, the authors said, is that the length of time people work as painters is linked to the likelihood that they will get bladder cancer, with those in the profession more than 10 years at a higher risk than those employed for less than a decade.
The study wasn't able to pinpoint specifically which chemicals and agents were responsible for painters' heightened chance of developing cancer of the bladder, since the participants analyzed were involved in different types of work and had varying levels of exposure to paint. The paints themselves also had different chemical compositions.
Guha offered advice to people currently working as painters.
"To reduce exposures, painters should work in wear clothing and gloves to minimize exposure to the skin, wear a mask and work in a well-ventilated environment," she said in her e-mail to AOL Health.
