Increased cancer incidence of Changhua residents living in Taisi Village north to the No. 6 Naphtha Cracking Complex

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Cancer risks of residents living north to the No. 6 Naphtha Cracking Complex has not been studied before. Methods: Our study subjects were recruited in 2014–16 from three zones north to the No. 6 Naphtha Cracking Complex, which included 229 participants from the Taisi Village (average 5.5 km from the complex), 1333 participants from the other 14 villages in Dacheng Township (9.2 km), and 372 participants from the Zhutang Township (19.9 km). Their occurrence of cancer in years-post-complex-operation (YPO) was defined by having a new cancer recorded (ICD-9: 140–208) in National Health Insurance Research Database since 1999. Poisson regression was conducted to compare incidence rate ratio among three zones in 10–16 YPO. Results: We found that all-cause cancer incidence of 10–16 YPO (per 1,000 person-years) in Taisi Village (8.44) was higher than that in Dacheng (3.42) and Zhutang (2.72). Taisi residents had significantly higher concentrations of V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, and Tl than Dacheng and Zhutang residents. The all-cause cancer incidence rate ratio between 10–16 and 0–9 YPO was 8.44 for Taisi residents. All-cause cancer incidence rate of Taisi residents was 2.55 times higher than Dacheng residents (95% CI: 1.89–3.45) and 2.43 times higher than Zhutang residents (95% CI: 1.54–3.84) in 10–16 YPO. Conclusion: We conclude that all-cause cancer risk was significantly increased for Taisi residents living near the No. 6 Naphtha Cracking Complex for 10–16 years after the complex began operating. Keywords: Cancer, Changhua, Petrochemical complex