Mortality Among Sheet Metal Workers Participating in a Medical Screening Program

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Haile E ; Myers D ; Welch L
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: The Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) was formed in 1985 to examine the health hazards of the sheet metal industry in the U.S. and Canada through an asbestos disease screening program. A study of mortality patterns among screening program participants was undertaken. METHODS: A cohort of 17,345 individuals with 20 or more years in the trade and who participated in the asbestos disease screening program were followed for vital status and causes of death between 1986 and 2004. Data from the screening program included chest X-ray results by International Labour Office (ILO) criteria and smoking history. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) by cause were generated using U.S. death rates and Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate lung cancer risk relative to chest X-ray changes while controlling for smoking. RESULTS: A significantly reduced SMR of 0.83 (95% CI = 0.80-0.85) was observed for all causes combined. Statistically significant excess mortality was observed for pleural cancers, mesothelioma, and asbestosis in the SMR analyses. Both lung cancer and COPD SMRs increased consistently and strongly with increasing ILO profusion score. In Cox models, which controlled for smoking, increased lung cancer risk was observed among workers with ILO scores of 0/1 (RR = 1.17, 95% CI = 0.89-1.54), with a strong trend for increasing lung cancer risk with increasing ILO profusion score >0/0. CONCLUSIONS: Sheet metal workers are at increased risk for asbestos-related diseases. This study contributes to the literature demonstrating asbestos-related diseases among workers with largely indirect exposures and supports an increased lung cancer risk among workers with low ILO profusion scores. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Construction Materials Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Lung Lung Diseases Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Safety Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Author Keywords: Sheet Metal Worker Cancer Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-materials Construction-workers Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Injuries Injury-prevention Lung-cancer Lung-irritants Lung Cancer Mortality Mortality-data Mortality-rates Occupational-hazards Pulmonary-cancer Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Risk-analysis Risk-factors Roofing-and-sheet-metal-work Statistical-analysis Trades Work-analysis Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036344
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2009 Aug; 52(8):603-613
• Contact Point Address:
  John Dement, Division of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Department of Community & Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 2200 West Main Street, Suite 400, Durham, NC 27710
• Email:
  john.dement@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040801
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20090630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8e52e391e4ead49eb838b799a5344aecfb9cafefb36473c1981427f56e88c20858a8f74a5c071f6b2c9874f4fddf90b7a35342e01b0d343fb12842735737e1d7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187810/cdc_187810_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 110.84 KB ]