Assessment of ALS mortality in a cohort of formaldehyde-exposed garment workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hein, Misty J. ; Kamel F ; Meyers A ; Pinkerton LE
• Description:
  The etiology of ALS is unknown. Although some investigators have evaluated the role of occupational exposures, their role is poorly understood. Among subjects with known exposure duration in the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II cohort ( approximately 1 million subjects), the ALS mortality rate was more than two times higher for subjects with self-reported formaldehyde exposure, compared to unexposed subjects (rate ratio 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.58 - 3.86, 1120 unexposed and 22 exposed cases), and strongly associated with exposure duration (2). Compared to unexposed subjects, the rate ratios were 1.5, 2.1, and 4.1 for subjects with < 4, 4 - 10, and > 10 years of self-reported formaldehyde exposure, respectively. In contrast, formaldehyde exposure (inferred from occupation) was not associated with ALS in a small case-control study (109 cases, 253 controls) by Fang et al. In this study, no association was observed with weighted exposure duration although an imprecise three-fold increase of ALS, based on four cases, was observed among a subgroup of the highest exposure tertile. We evaluated ALS mortality among a cohort of formaldehyde-exposed garment workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Formaldehyde Men Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Safety Textile Industry Women Workplace
• Keywords:
  Etiology Exposure-levels Formaldehydes Garment-workers Humans Morbidity-rates Mortality-rates Statistical-analysis Work-environment Workers
• ISSN:
  2167-8421
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; 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:
  353-355
• Volume:
  14
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042456
• Citation:
  Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener 2013 Sep; 14(5-6):353-355
• Contact Point Address:
  L. E. Pinkerton, Epidemiology II, Industrywide Studies Branch, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, R-15, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  lep5@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6e6abd11223b3d6c79f65ec1d3b930044d8c21a251b0e7a0bf425080f2c56c0ca10a04bf5f558bea0747eb790b22777a8af67d0030dcf6c62592df4f8ef76f32
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194679/cdc_194679_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 64.25 KB ]