Introduction:

Studies in health workers in the aluminum production industry have identified several adverse effects. Since the seventies, several reviews of the risks of neoplasms in the aluminum industry have been carried out.

Objectives:

To review the scientific literature about the neoplasms and occupational exposure to aluminum and / or its compounds.

Methods:

Systematic review of scientific literature retrieved from the MEDLINE database (PubMed via), EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, the Spanish-speaking health science databases Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe en Ciencias de la Salud (LILACS) and in the journal collections Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud (IBECS) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), until November 2017. The terms used as descriptors and free text were: «Aluminum», «Aluminum compounds», «Occupational exposure» and «Neoplasms». The search was completed with a bibliographic review of the selected articles. The following filters (limits) were considered: «humans» and «adults» (19+ years).

Results:

375 References were retrieved. From all of them, 12 articles were obtained in full text after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They described neoplasms of the respiratory, digestive, genitourinary, central nervous system, lymphohematopoietic, dermatological and endocrine systems and breast.

Conclusions:

Despite the results reporting illness after exposure to aluminum or its compounds, there is not enough evidence to demonstrate a carcinogenic effect of occupational exposure to aluminum and/or its compounds. More studies providing evidence in relation to this topic would be necessary.