Introduction/framework/objectives:

Some studies alert to the possibility that the incidence of Liver Cancer is increased in workers of some professional sectors. This information is, however, still very scarce, and may not be available for occupational health teams, to be able to take measures in higher risk workplaces or study the incidence of this phenomenon. Thus, the objective of this work was to summarize the most relevant data about occupational risk factors for liver cancer.

Methodology:

This is a Bibliographic Review, initiated through a search carried out in January 2022 in the databases “CINALH plus with full text, Medline with full text, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Methodology Register, Nursing and Allied Health Collection: comprehensive, MedicLatina and RCAAP”.

Content:

Liver Cancer is the fifth or sixth most common worldwide and the second most deadly, with around 750,000 cases/year. 80% of cases occur in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and only 8% occur in developed countries. At an occupational level, there may be a relationship with exposure to Aflotoxins, Pesticides, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Vinyl Chloride and some viruses.

Discussion and Conclusions:

There is some evidence that liver cancer may be associated with contact with some chemical and biological agents, however it is still not possible to irrefutably establish their relationship with work environments.

The statistics shown in this study do not reveal data from Portugal, so it would be interesting to get to know the national reality better and to find out the existence of relationships between cases of liver oncological disease and their workplaces.

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