Residential risk of leukemia for individuals living near petrochemical industrial complexes
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We followed Cochrane meta-analysis protocol to analyze findings from 21 subjects from nine published research articles in seven countries. A random effect model was applied to estimate the pooled effect due to high heterogeneity between the selected studies. Meta-regression and subgroup analysis were further applied to identify heterogeneity. We also performed sensitivity analysis, Funnel plot, Egger’s test, and Begg’s test to assess possible publication bias. Residents living close to PIC have a 27% greater risk of leukemia (RR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.08–1.50). Female residents (RR = 3.17, 95% CI = 2.13–4.73) and children under 10 years old (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.23–6.13) are the most vulnerable groups. Those living as far as 7.5 km from PICs still have an elevated risk of leukemia by a factor of 18% (95% CI = 1.05–1.33). Our study reveals a significantly increased risk of leukemia incidence among residents in the vicinity of PICs, especially among females and young children, even from distances as great as 7.5 km. Future directions of this research include assessing risk of bias in the studies in this meta-analysis using tools adapted from the Cochrane protocol for evaluation of environmental epidemiology studies.