The SYNERGY project database contains individual lifetime data on occupations and smoking for more than 17 700 lung cancer cases and more than 21 800 control subjects. This database provides the best available tool for estimating the joint effects of occupational exposure to asbestos, PAHs, nickel, chromium, and silica.
The main aims of the SYNERGY project were:
- To assemble and pool eligible lung cancer studies;
- To assemble and evaluate the best available exposure information, and create an exposure database (ExpoSYN);
- To develop a general population job-exposure matrix (SYN-JEM);
- To assess the exposure-response relationships for the lung carcinogens selected for evaluation;
- To investigate the effects of smoking as a potential confounder or effect modifier;
- To estimate the interactions between occupational carcinogens.
The criteria for selecting asbestos, PAHs, nickel, chromium, and respirable crystalline silica as the exposures of interest were:
- Classification in IARC Group 1 (carcinogenic to humans);
- Prevalence of joint exposure in study populations;
- Availability of quantitative exposure data;
- Possibility to disentangle the effects of correlated occupational exposures;
- Possibility to disentangle occupational exposures from exposures in the general population;
- Mechanistic considerations (shared or different modes of biological action);
- Relevance for prevention;
- Relevance for compensation.
