Cancer incidence and cause specific mortality among workers in two Norwegian aluminum reduction plants

Long-term follow-up study of mortality and the incidence of cancer in a cohort of workers at a primary aluminum smelter in Sweden

“…Unlike most studies in the aluminum industry, we did not find an association between bladder cancer and work in the aluminum industry (8,(16)(17)(18)(19). Perhaps the absence of any association is due to smoking, which implies that the real risk of lung cancer would be higher than observed in our study if we had been able to control for smoking.…”

“…In a later study, Spinelli et al (17) verified an association between work in the aluminum industry and lung cancer. Norwegian studies, however, have not confirmed the increased risk of lung cancer among aluminum industry workers (8,13,18,27), although in an earlier study, Rönneberg & Andersen (28) found an excess risk when comparing observed rates with the rates of the local population. In our study, the estimated risk of lung cancer was highest among those working at the plant for ≥10 years; this finding provides evidence of a risk associated with working in the smelter.…”

“…Although an excess risk of mortality was uncommon in these studies, it has been found for asthma, emphysema and bronchitis (8,11,13), respiratory diseases (11), tumors (11), accidents (10), and liver cirrhosis (10). Friesen et al (14) found a moderate association between exposure to PAH and acute myocardial infarction for aluminum smelter workers.…”

“…Friesen et al (14) found a moderate association between exposure to PAH and acute myocardial infarction for aluminum smelter workers. As regards the incidence of cancer, the most consistent finding in previous studies has been an increased incidence of bladder cancer (8,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Cancer of the lungs (11,14,17,21,22) , pancreas (18), kidneys (15,17,18), lymphoma (17), stomach (17), and brain (23) has also been found to be associated with workers in aluminum plants, but these findings are less consistent.…”

“…Previous epidemiologic studies of the mortality of primary aluminum workers have generally shown lower risks in association with all causes when these workers were compared with reference populations, this finding possibly being explained by the healthy worker effect (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Although an excess risk of mortality was uncommon in these studies, it has been found for asthma, emphysema and bronchitis (8,11,13), respiratory diseases (11), tumors (11), accidents (10), and liver cirrhosis (10).…”