Diesel engine exhaust and lung cancer risks – evaluation of the meta-analysis by Vermeulen et al. 2014

Table 1 Input data on the primary analysis in Vermeulen et al. [1]

Study	lag/a	Exposure category	Average dose	Lower dose	Upper dose	RR	95 % CI		Number of persons	Number of cases
							Lower	Upper
Steenland et al. 1998	5	Reference	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.00	1.00	1.00
Steenland et al. 1998	5	Cat 1	84.5	0.0	<169.0	1.08	0.72	1.63
	5	Cat 2	231.0	169.0	257.0	1.10	0.74	1.65
	5	Cat 3	294.0	257.0	331.0	1.36	0.90	2.04
	5	Cat 4	551.7	≥331.0		1.64	1.09	2.49
Garshick et al. 2012^a	5	Reference	15.5	0.0	<30.9	1.00	1.00	1.00	105513	122
Garshick et al. 2012^a	5	Cat 1	51.3	30.9	71.7	1.31	1.01	1.71	104909	191
	5	Cat 2	111.0	71.7	150.3	1.38	1.02	1.87	102496	202
	5	Cat 3	250.5	≥150.3		1.48	1.05	2.10	87397	226
Silverman et al. 2012	15	Reference	1.5	0.0	<3.0	1.00	1.00	1.00	207	49
Silverman et al. 2012	15	Cat 1	37.5	3.0	72.0	0.74	0.40	1.38	278	50
	15	Cat 2	204.0	72.0	536.0	1.54	0.74	3.20	206	49
	15	Cat 3	1036.0	≥536.0		2.83	1.28	6.26	173	50

Dose refers to the cumulative exposure to DEE in μg/m³-years. For every category (Reference, Cat 1, Cat 2, Cat 3 and Cat 4), “averages” and the lower and upper limits of the dose are specified. Estimates of the relative risk RR with 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) per category are given. Study size and number of lung cancer deaths are reported
^aGarshick et al. [3] do not include mechanics as an employee group, and the risk estimates are adjusted for duration of exposure. For Garshick et al. [3], the number of person years is stated instead of the number of persons, as it is a cohort study. Steenland et al. [2] specify neither the number of persons nor the number of cases per exposure category

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