Occupational Exposure to Talc Increases the Risk of Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Occupational Cohort Studies

Figure 2

Forest plot of summary SMR for lung cancer pooling all available studies. The forest plot demonstrates that the summary SMR for lung cancer is elevated in subjects exposed to talc powders. LogSMR: estimated log standardized mortality ratio; SE: standard error of LogSMR; SMR: standardized mortality ratio; CI: confidence interval; W (fixed): weights from fixed effect; W (random): weights from random effect. SMR values > 1.0 indicate that talc exposure is associated with increased mortality risk. Gray squares represent the point estimate of the SMR and have areas proportional to study size. Lines represent 95% confidence intervals. The diamond shows the summary statistic. The overall heterogeneity statistic is shown.