Pet birds as an independent risk factor for lung cancer: case-control study.

OBJECTIVE--To test the hypothesis that exposure to pet birds increases risk of developing lung cancer. DESIGN--Case-control study. Computerised interviews were used to assess previous exposure to pets and other risk factors for lung cancer. SETTING--Three major hospitals treating respiratory disease in former West Berlin. SUBJECTS--All people newly diagnosed as having primary malignant neoplasm of the trachea, bronchi, or lung who were 65 or younger and control subjects matched for age and sex from the general population of former West Berlin. 279 cases and 635 controls qualified for the study; 239 cases and 429 controls participated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Odds ratio of developing lung cancer according to whether or not pet birds were kept and the duration of keeping pet birds. RESULTS--In addition to the risk of lung cancer imposed by smoking, passive smoking, and occupational exposure to carcinogens, an increased relative risk of 2.14 (95% confidence interval 1.35 to 3.40) was found among people exposed to pet birds. The adjusted odds ratio for exposures longer than 10 years was 3.19 (1.48 to 8.21). CONCLUSIONS--Avian exposure seems to carry a risk of lung cancer. Until the pathogenesis is understood, long term exposure to pet birds in living areas should be avoided, especially among people at high risk of developing lung cancer.

[1]  M Schneiderman,et al.  Lung Cancer Not Attributable to Smoking , 1990, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[2]  O. Axelson,et al.  Changes in Non‐Smoking Related Lung Cancer with Special Reference to Mortality Trends in Swedish Women , 1990, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[3]  J. Mckillop,et al.  Clearance of 99mTc-DTPA in pigeon fancier's hypersensitivity pneumonitis. , 1990, The American review of respiratory disease.

[4]  R. Patterson,et al.  Clinical and serologic follow-up of four children and five adults with bird-fancier's lung. , 1990, The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology.

[5]  J. H. Smith,et al.  Pathology of experimental Sarcocystis falcatula infections of canaries (Serinus canarius) and pigeons (Columba livia). , 1990, The Journal of parasitology.

[6]  L. Hagmar,et al.  Over-shift decrease in lung function in poultry slaughterhouse workers. , 1990, American journal of industrial medicine.

[7]  R. Carter,et al.  Obstructive airways disease in non‐smoking subjects with pigeon fanciers' lung , 1989, Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

[8]  J. Ostergaard.  Reversible Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in a 6‐Year‐Old Girl with Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis , 1989, Acta paediatrica Scandinavica.

[9]  F. Staib,et al.  Cryptococcus neoformans in bird droppings: a hygienic-epidemiological challenge , 1989 .

[10]  D Kromhout,et al.  For debate: pet birds as an independent risk factor for lung cancer. , 1988, BMJ.

[11]  R. Crapo,et al.  Longitudinal pulmonary function changes in pigeon breeders. , 1988, Chest.

[12]  J. Diebold,et al.  Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia in a bird breeder: a case history with pulmonary involvement and antibody activity of the monoclonal IgM to canary's droppings. , 1987, Clinical and experimental immunology.

[13]  J. McDougall,et al.  Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis Due to Dove Antigens in an Adolescent , 1987, Clinical pediatrics.

[14]  F. Staib.  kryptokokkose bei AIDS aus mykologisch-diagnostischer und -epidemiologischer Sicht , 1987 .

[15]  M. Seibold,et al.  [Cryptococcus neoformans in patients of a Berlin lung clinic--a contribution to the diagnosis and control of Cr. neoformans mycosis]. , 1986, Praxis und Klinik der Pneumologie.

[16]  F. Staib.  Sampling and isolation of Cryptococcus neoformans from indoor air with the aid of the Reuter Centrifugal Sampler (RCS) and guizotia abyssinica creatinine agar. A contribution to the mycological-epidemiological control of Cr. neoformans in the fecal matter of caged birds. , 1985, Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie, Mikrobiologie und Hygiene. 1. Abt. Originale B, Hygiene.

[17]  D. Schlueter,et al.  Immunoregulation in hypersensitivity pneumonitis: phenotypic and functional studies of bronchoalveolar lavage lymphocytes. , 1984, The American review of respiratory disease.

[18]  H. Wegener,et al.  Tödliche cryptococcose eines vogelliebhabers Ein kasuistischer beitrag zur pathologie, diagnostik und epidemiologie der cryptococcose , 1983 .

[19]  F. Staib,et al.  [Fatal cryptococcosis in a bird fancier. A clinical case report on pathology, diagnosis and epidemiology of cryptococcosis]. , 1983, Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie, Mikrobiologie, und Hygiene. Series A, Medical microbiology, infectious diseases, virology, parasitology.

[20]  M. Rimpelä,et al.  Occupation and smoking as risk determinants of lung cancer. , 1983, International journal of epidemiology.

[21]  D. Sandler,et al.  Lung cancer and occupation in Alameda County: a death certificate case-control study. , 1983, American journal of industrial medicine.

[22]  A. Woolcock,et al.  Bird breeder's hypersensitivity pneumonitis: progress studies of lung function after cessation of exposure to the provoking antigen. , 2015, The American review of respiratory disease.

[23]  S. Walter.  The estimation and interpretation of attributable risk in health research. , 1976, Biometrics.

[24]  B. Henderson,et al.  Occupational differences in rates of lung cancer. , 1976, Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association.

[25]  D. Schlueter,et al.  Pulmonary function in pigeon breeders' disease: a hypersensitivity pneumonitis. , 1969, Annals of internal medicine.

[26]  F. Staib,et al.  Zum Nachweis von Cryptococcus neoformans im Staub von einem Taubenschlag * , 1968 .

[27]  F. Staib,et al.  [Demonstration of Cryptococcus neoformans in the dust of a dovectoe]. , 1968, Mykosen.

[28]  J. Barboriak,et al.  Pigeon Breeders' Disease: A Clinical Study of a Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis , 1968 .

[29]  A. Sosman,et al.  PIGEON-BREEDERS' LUNG: A NEWLY OBSERVED INTERSTITIAL PULMONARY DISEASE. , 1965, JAMA.