Cancer mortality among styrene and fibreglass exposed workers in the reinforced plastic boatbuilding industry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bertke S ; Meyers A ; Ruder A
• Description:
  Objectives: Mortality was updated through 2008 for 5203 workers exposed to styrene, fibreglass, and wood dust between 1959 and 1978 at two boatbuilding plants. The a priori hypothesis: leukaemia and lymphoma excesses would be found Method: Standardised mortality ratios (SMR), standardised rate ratios (SRR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Washington State rates and a person-years analysis program, LTAS. NET, controlling for age, calendar period, race, and gender. The SRR analysis compared tertiles of estimated cumulative styrene exposure. Results: Overall, 484 cancer deaths occurred (SMR 1.20, CI 1.10-1.31), with excess mortality for respiratory cancers (n = 171, SMR 1.33, CI 1.14-1.55) and prostate cancer (n = 41, SMR 1.44, CI 1.03-1.96). Among 2063 workers highly exposed to styrene and fibreglass there were excesses of mesothelioma (n = 3, SMR 5.28, CI 1.09-15.4) and ovarian cancer (n = 6, SMR 2.94, CI 1.08-6.41). The SRR analysis did not find strong associations between tertiles of styrene exposure and cancer mortality. Conclusions: We found no excess leukaemia or lymphoma mortality. Unanticipated excess mesothelioma and ovarian cancer mortality are difficult to interpret and could be due to fibreglass exposure or employment elsewhere, or could be chance findings. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Glass Lung Lung Diseases Men Morbidity Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Ships Styrene Urogenital Diseases Urogenital System Women Wood Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Boat-manufacturing-industry Cancer Diseases Exposure-levels Fiberglass-industry Humans Lung-cancer Mesothelial-cells Morbidity-rates Mortality-data Prostate-cancer Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Styrenes Wood-dusts Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; 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:
  71
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044610
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2014 Jun; 71(Suppl 1):A74-A75
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Challenges for Occupational Epidemiology in the 21st Century, EPICOH 2014, June 24-27, 2014, Chicago, Illinois
• Supplement:
  1
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0930eee618a3979c6cbff9c708043cbdc648f16a028ca26f9107ace215e0101e07bbc531a7899977e151f03fa7b9825c72bc42f6bdc4e55e4eda43d98f5ece3d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200277/cdc_200277_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 90.26 KB ]