{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T02:18:42Z","timestamp":1773713922569,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,13]],"date-time":"2023-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1691884800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Nordic Cancer Union and Scientific Council in Sweden"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The cancer profile of veterinarians has received little research attention, despite the profession potentially being exposed to a wide range of known and suspected carcinogens. In this large-scale cohort study, we assessed cancer incidence in veterinarians in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, across more than 40 years (1961\u20132005). The cohort comprised 4708 veterinarians and 119,503 person-years at follow-up. The overall cancer incidence in veterinarians was close to the incidence in the total population in all countries and in all age groups. In male veterinarians, the standardized incidence ratios (SIR) in 1961\u20131990 were elevated for colon cancer (1.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.39\u20132.44), prostate cancer (1.35, 95% CI 1.07\u20131.67), and especially skin melanoma (3.62, 95% CI 2.78\u20132.84), while there was no longer any statistically significant excess in the more recent follow-up period. Decreased SIRs were observed for lip cancer (0.11, 95% CI 0.00\u20130.62), laryngeal cancer (0.38, 95% CI 0.12\u20130.89), lung cancer (0.59, 95% CI 0.47\u20130.74), and stomach cancer (0.58, 95% CI 0.38\u20130.86), without a marked change in SIR over time. Non-significant excesses among male veterinarians were also observed in Hodgkin lymphoma (1961\u20131990 only), and leukaemia. This multi-country study indicates that there was an elevated incidence of several cancer types among male veterinarians before the 1990s but not after that. Some of the findings might rather be attributed to lifestyle factors and not directly to work conditions, but the excess risk of cancers of kidney and bladder, for example, might be related to work exposures.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers15164079","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,14]],"date-time":"2023-08-14T10:40:31Z","timestamp":1692009631000},"page":"4079","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["No Excess Cancer Risk among Veterinarians in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden after the 1980s"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Laura","family":"Laakso","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Clinic of Paippinen, 04170 Paippinen, Finland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3035-5094","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pikka","family":"Jokelainen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Preparedness, Statens Serum Institut, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7040-5586","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hans","family":"Houe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eystein","family":"Skjerve","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1433 \u00c5s, Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9342-2725","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Johnni","family":"Hansen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Danish Cancer Society, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elsebeth","family":"Lynge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nyk\u00f8bing Falster Hospital and Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1014 Copenhagen, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jan-Ivar","family":"Martinsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research, Cancer Registry of Norway, 0379 Oslo, Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0830-284X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ingrid Sivesind","family":"Mehlum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology, National Institute of Occupational Health (STAMI), 0304 Oslo, Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jenny","family":"Selander","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Occupational Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"J\u00f3hanna Eyr\u00fan","family":"Torfad\u00f3ttir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Education & Prevention, The Icelandic Cancer Society, 105 Reykjavik, Iceland"},{"name":"Centre for Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2237-0128","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisabete","family":"Weiderpass","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), World Health Organization, 69372 Lyon, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sanna","family":"Heikkinen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Finnish Cancer Registry, Institute for Statistical and Epidemiological Cancer Research, 00130 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9536-6440","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eero","family":"Pukkala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Finnish Cancer Registry, Institute for Statistical and Epidemiological Cancer Research, 00130 Helsinki, Finland"},{"name":"Health Sciences Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33520 Tampere, Finland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1002\/ijc.2910250203","article-title":"Cancer and other causes of death among U.S. veterinarians, 1966\u20131977","volume":"25","author":"Blair","year":"1980","journal-title":"Int. J. Cancer"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"391","DOI":"10.1093\/ije\/11.4.391","article-title":"Mortality Patterns among US Veterinarians, 1947\u20131977: An Expanded Study","volume":"11","author":"Blair","year":"1982","journal-title":"Int. J. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1017","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.287.6398.1017","article-title":"Mortality among British veterinary surgeons","volume":"287","author":"Kinlen","year":"1983","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1210","DOI":"10.1097\/00043764-199411000-00007","article-title":"Risk of Multiple Myeloma by Occupation and Industry among Men and Women:A 24-State Death Certificate Study","volume":"36","author":"Figgs","year":"1994","journal-title":"J. Occup. Med."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1002\/ajim.4700270105","article-title":"Suicide, cancer, and other causes of death among California veterinarians, 1960\u20131992","volume":"27","author":"Miller","year":"1995","journal-title":"Am. J. Ind. Med."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1136\/oem.57.5.289","article-title":"Cancer in veterinarians","volume":"57","author":"Fritschi","year":"2000","journal-title":"Occup. Environ. Med."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"587","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1024834927738","article-title":"Cancer incidence among male Swedish veterinarians and other workers of the veterinary industry: A record-linkage study","volume":"14","author":"Travier","year":"2003","journal-title":"Cancer Causes Control."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"904","DOI":"10.1111\/jvim.15077","article-title":"ACVIM small animal consensus statement on safe use of cytotoxic chemotherapeutics in veterinary practice","volume":"32","author":"Smith","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Vet. Intern. Med."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"631","article-title":"Occupational health and safety in small animal veterinary practice: Part I\u2014Nonparasitic zoonotic diseases","volume":"43","author":"Weese","year":"2002","journal-title":"Can. Vet. J."},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"799","article-title":"Occupational health and safety in small animal veterinary practice: Part II\u2014Parasitic zoonotic diseases","volume":"43","author":"Weese","year":"2002","journal-title":"Can. Vet. J."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"232","DOI":"10.1111\/zph.12312","article-title":"Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies in Finnish Veterinarians","volume":"64","author":"Kantala","year":"2017","journal-title":"Zoonoses Public Health"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1111\/zph.12550","article-title":"Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in veterinarians in Finland: Older age, living in the countryside, tasting beef during cooking and not doing small animal practice associated with seropositivity","volume":"66","author":"Siponen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Zoonoses Public Health"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1016\/j.shaw.2021.10.008","article-title":"Veterinarians as a Risk Group for Zoonoses: Exposure, Knowledge and Protective Practices in Finland","volume":"13","author":"Kinnunen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Saf. Health Work."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"646","DOI":"10.1080\/02841860902913546","article-title":"Occupation and cancer\u2014Follow-up of 15 million people in five Nordic countries","volume":"48","author":"Pukkala","year":"2009","journal-title":"Acta Oncol."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"440","DOI":"10.1080\/0284186X.2017.1407039","article-title":"Nordic Cancer Registries\u2014An overview of their procedures and data comparability","volume":"57","author":"Pukkala","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acta Oncol."},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"1","article-title":"Work related cancer in the Nordic countries","volume":"25","author":"Andersen","year":"1999","journal-title":"Scand. J. Work. Environ. Health"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"672","DOI":"10.1111\/bjd.19379","article-title":"Occupation and cutaneous melanoma: A 45-year historical cohort study of 14.9 million people in five Nordic countries","volume":"184","author":"Alfonso","year":"2021","journal-title":"Br. J. Dermatol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2460\/javma.21.04.0221","article-title":"All causes of death among veterinarians in the United States during 1979 through 2015","volume":"260","author":"Tomasi","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weiderpass, E., and Pukkala, E. (2006). Time trends in socioeconomic differences in incidence rates of cancers of gastro-intestinal tract in Finland. BMC Gastroenterol., 6.","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-230X-6-41"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1557","DOI":"10.1080\/0284186X.2019.1652340","article-title":"Trends of colorectal cancer incidence by education and socioeconomic status in Finland","volume":"58","author":"Malila","year":"2019","journal-title":"Acta Oncol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e277","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(17)30058-X","article-title":"Socioeconomic status and non-communicable disease behavioural risk factors in low-income and lower-middle-income countries: A systematic review","volume":"5","author":"Allen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet Glob. Health"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2478","DOI":"10.1002\/ijc.31272","article-title":"Socioeconomic status and diagnosis, treatment, and mortality in men with prostate cancer. Nationwide population-based study","volume":"142","author":"Tomic","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Cancer"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1016\/j.prnil.2019.08.001","article-title":"A review of social determinants of prostate cancer risk, stage, and survival","volume":"8","author":"Coughlin","year":"2019","journal-title":"Prostate Int."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1097\/JOM.0000000000001468","article-title":"Occupation and Risk of Kidney Cancer in Nordic Countries","volume":"61","author":"Michalek","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Occup. Environ. Med."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e301","DOI":"10.1097\/JOM.0000000000000803","article-title":"Occupation and Risk of Bladder Cancer in Nordic Countries","volume":"58","author":"Hadkhale","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Occup. Environ. Med."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e460","DOI":"10.17269\/cjph.104.4167","article-title":"Occupational Exposures to Antineoplastic Drugs and Ionizing Radiation in Canadian Veterinary Settings: Findings from a National Surveillance Project","volume":"104","author":"Hall","year":"2013","journal-title":"Can. J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"288","article-title":"Cancer risk by social class and occupation. A survey of 109,000 cancer cases among Finns of working age","volume":"7","author":"Pukkala","year":"1995","journal-title":"Contrib. Epidemiol. Biostat."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"537","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2796.2008.02031.x","article-title":"Infectious aetiology of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas: A review of the epidemiological evidence","volume":"264","author":"Hjalgrim","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Intern. Med."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Reijula, K., Bergbom, B., Lindbohm, M., and Taskinen, H. (2018). El\u00e4inl\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4rin Ty\u00f6terveys [Occupational Health of Veterinarian], The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health."}],"container-title":["Cancers"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6694\/15\/16\/4079\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T20:32:34Z","timestamp":1760128354000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6694\/15\/16\/4079"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,13]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"16","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]}},"alternative-id":["cancers15164079"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/cancers15164079","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-6694"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-6694","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,13]]}}}