Mortality and Exposure Response Among 14,458 Electrical Capacitor Manufacturing Workers Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Davis-King KE ; Hein, Misty J. ; Laber PA ; Nilsen N ; Prince, Mary M. ; Ruder, Avima M. ; Schnorr, Teresa M. ; Ward, Elizabeth M. ; Waters MA ; Whelan, Elizabeth A.
• Description:
  Background: We expanded an existing cohort of workers (n = 2,588) considered highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at two capacitor manufacturing plants to include all workers with at least 90 days of potential PCB exposure during 1939-1977 (n = 14,458) . Causes of death of a priori interest included liver and rectal cancers, previously reported for the original cohort, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) , melanoma, and breast, brain, intestine, stomach, and prostate cancers, based on other studies. Methods: We ascertained vital status of the workers through 1998, and cumulative PCB exposure was estimated using a new job exposure matrix. Analyses employed standardized mortality ratios (SMRs ; U.S., state, and county referents) and Poisson regression modeling. Results: Mortality from NHL, melanoma, and rectal, breast, and brain cancers were neither in excess nor associated with cumulative exposure. Mortality was not elevated for liver cancer [21 deaths ; SMR 0.89 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) , 0.55-1.36], but increased with cumulative exposure (trend p-value = 0.071) . Among men, stomach cancer mortality was elevated (24 deaths ; SMR 1.53 ; 95% CI, 0.98-2.28) and increased with cumulative exposure (trend p-value = 0.039) . Among women, intestinal cancer mortality was elevated (67 deaths ; SMR 1.31 ; 95% CI, 1.02-1.66) , especially in higher cumulative exposure categories, but without a clear trend. Prostate cancer mortality, which was not elevated (34 deaths ; SMR 1.04 ; 95% CI, 0.72-1.45) , increased with cumulative exposure (trend p-value = 0.0001) . Conclusions: This study corroborates previous studies showing increased liver cancer mortality, but we cannot clearly associate rectal, stomach, and intestinal cancers with PCB exposure. This is the first PCB cohort showing a strong exposure-response relationship for prostate cancer mortality. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biphenyl Compounds Digestive System Digestive System Diseases Epidemiology Liver Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Health Polychlorinated Biphenyls Safety Urogenital Diseases Urogenital System

  More +
• Keywords:
  Biphenyls Cancer Liver-cancer Liver-damage Liver-disorders Liver-tumors Mortality-data Mortality-rates Mortality-surveys Polychlorinated-biphenyls Prostate-cancer Statistical-analysis

  More +
• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; 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
• Volume:
  114
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030942
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2006 Oct; 114(10):1508-1514
• Contact Point Address:
  A.M. Ruder, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mailstop R-16, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226 USA
• Email:
  amr2@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:175ac30dcc487a554a3ad10bdc37bb08aac6f2b0c0ad09bc66f63d7fe880e5436e7e163a7b7b9102a0710f297cea660b326926ca4cba9f086553b902c018d098
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/191369/cdc_191369_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 123.87 KB ]