Lung Cancer in Coastal Georgia: A Death Certificate Analysis of Occupation: Brief Communication

ROBINSON CF, WAXWEILER RJ, FOWLER DP. Mortality among production workers in pulp and paper mills. Scand J Work Environ Health 12 (1986) 552-560. A cohort of 3 572 pulp and paper mill workers employed for at least one year between 1945 and 1955 was followed through 31 March 1977. Vital status was determined for 99 % of the cohort. The 915 deaths observed were 79 0,70 of the number expected on the basis of comparable United States mortality rates. Statistically nonsignificant excesses of deaths due to lymphosarcoma and reticulosarcoma and to stomach cancer were observed. These findings tend to corroborate reports based on state vital statistics, and preliminary case-referent and populationbased studies of workers in the pulp or paper industries. No deaths due to nasal cancer were observed, but only 0.6 were expected. When process-specific analyses were conducted, the excess risk of lymphosarcoma and reticulosarcoma was increased only for men who worked in sulfate mills. The excess risk of stomach cancer was limited to men who worked in sulfite mills. Process-specific standardized mortality ratios for these causes were highest after 20 years since first employment in the mills.

Section: Description Of Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lung cancer has been associated with pulp and paper mill employment in some studies (1,12,19) but not in others (3,9). In the only study which considered cigarette smoking, a case -referent study of 535 male residents of coastal Georgia, no association was found with pulp or paper mills (3).…”

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confidence: 98%

Mortality among production workers in pulp and paper mills.

Robinson¹,

Waxweiler²,

Fowler³

1986

“…H owe ver, the re is a report of an association between other type s of na sal a nd sinus paran asal cancer a nd exposur e to softwoo ds (6). Although one death certificate study show ed an increased risk of lun g ca ncer among sa wmill wor kers (7), the re a re other studies showing no excesses of lung cancer (8,9) among t hese wor kers. There ar c reports of increased risk for Hod gkin' s disea se (10) and for leuk em ia and lympho-rna (9) amo ng sawmill workers.…”

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confidence: 96%

Cancer incidence of workers in a Finnish sawmill.

Jäppinen¹,

Pukkala²,

Tola³

1989

JApPI NE N P, PUKK ALA E, TO LA S. Ca ncer incidence of workers in a Finni sh sawmill. Scand J Work Environ Health 1989;15:18-23. The cancer incidence of I 223 sawm ill workers with continuo us employment of at least on e year between I Janu ar y 1945 and 31 December 1961 was followed until 31 December 1980. Separate a nalyses were mad e for the 80 1 workers hired after I J anu ar y 1945, and smo king hab its were surveyed. Among the men, 90 cases of primar y cancer were detected versus 83.5 expected and amo ng the women 55 cancer cases versus 44.5 expected. Skin cancer was in excess amo ng the men , especially among those empl oyed aft er I J anuary 1945. Lip, mou th , and phar ynx cancer and lymph omas were also slightl y in excess among the men, as was leukemia amo ng both sexes. Workplace expo sur e, especially to chlorophenols, may be associated with the excess skin cancer a nd the slight excess of lymphom as, but this finding should be furt her evaluated with special emphasis on well-defined exposure data .

“…An increased risk of neoplasms of the lymph atic system has been reported (7, 8,1 5,1 6,18,21) , as well as excesses of other malignancies, especially lung cancer (1, 9,14). There are , however, inconsistencies between different studies .…”

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confidence: 99%

Cancer incidence of workers in the Finnish pulp and paper industry.

Jäppinen¹,

Hakulinen²,

Pukkala³

et al. 1987

JApPINEN P , HAKULINEN T , PUKKA LA E, TOLA S, KURPPA K. Cancer incidence of workers in the Finnish pulp and paper industry. Scand J Work Environ Health 13 (1987) 197-202. The cancer incidence of 3 545 workers in the Finn ish pulp and paper industry was assessed in a retrospective cohort stud y. The cohort included wor kers with con tinuous employment of at least one year bet ween I January 1945 and 31 December 1961 and was followed until 31 December 1980. Six subcohorts were formed (sulfite mill, sulfate mill, paper mill, board mill, maint enance department, and po wer plan t). Separate analyses were mad e for the 2 597 workers hired after I Januar y 1945. The smok ing habit s were surveyed. Amon g the men, 196 cases of pr imar y cancer were detected versus 203.8 expected [stand ardi zed incidence ratio (SIR) 96, 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) 82-114], and there were 47 cancer cases among the women versus 57.9 expected (SIR 91, 95 fIJo CI 60-108). Lun g cancer occurred in 78 men (62.6 expected, SIR 125, 95 Ofo CI 98-155), and the excesswas the most prominent for the male board mill workers (40 observed, 18.1 expected, SIR 222, 95 fIJo CI 158-302), particularly aft er 20 years' latency (25 observed, 7.8 expected , SIR 323, 95 fIJo CI 209-476). Analogous excesses of lung cancer occurred among the men (especially the male board mill workers) who began work after I Janu ary 1945.The findings were not explained by smoking hab its.