Case control study of lung cancer in civilian employees at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bierbaum PJ ; Hornung, Richard W. ; Landrigan, Philip J. ; Melius, James M. ; Murray, William E. Jr. Jr. ; Rinsky RA ; Waxweiler, Richard J. ; Zumwalde, Ralph D.
• Description:
  A case/control study of deaths due to lung cancer in civilian workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (SIC-3731), Kittery, Maine was conducted. Cases consisted of white males who had worked at the shipyard at some time during the period January 1, 1952, through August 15, 1977, and who died from a malignant neoplasm of the trachea, bronchus, or lung (lung cancer). Three comparison subjects were selected for each case, based on date of birth, date of first employment, and duration of employment. Odds ratios were elevated for radiation exposure history, asbestos (1332214) exposure, and exposure to welding byproducts. There was a statistically significant excess for workers with a cumulative lifetime exposure of at least 1 rem. The odds ratios for combined asbestos and welding exposure histories (as a single factor) were significantly elevated for two of three duration categories. Exposures to asbestos and welding byproducts tended to confound the association between radiation and lung cancer; radiation workers also had a propensity to have been exposed to asbestos and welding byproducts. Introduction of latency periods into the analysis resulted in the odds ratios for radiation exposure becoming smaller, and odds ratios for asbestos and welding byproducts becoming larger. The authors conclude that these results neither support nor exclude an association between radiation exposure and lung cancer mortality at this facility.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Asbestos-workers Cancer-rates Carcinogens Epidemiology Lung-cancer Mortality-rates Mortality-surveys NIOSH-Author Radiation-exposure Welders
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Other
• Place as Subject:
  Maine ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-40
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00171110
• Citation:
  NIOSH 1986 Feb; :1-40
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1986
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3731 - Ship building and repairing - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e2053ab3118e0fb599bdefc4f5dc476dce9b2c48125537aaf538466637759ad1061188ae2ef91780d025f59cd39d24fd3368b99cd331bd4d900849341ea54286
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/179983/cdc_179983_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB ]