Metalworking Fluids and Cancer Mortality in a US Autoworker Cohort (1941–2015)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chen K ; Costello S ; Eisen E ; Lutzker L ; Picciotto S
• Description:
  Objectives: This report describes the extended follow-up (1941-2015) of a cohort of 38 549 automobile manufacturing workers with potential exposure to metalworking fluids (MWF). The outcomes of interest were mortality from cancers of the esophagus, stomach, intestine, rectum, bladder, liver, pancreas, larynx, lung, skin, prostate, brain, and female breast, as well as leukemia. This report includes 5472 deaths from cancer, more than ten times the numbers of deaths in our last summary report published 20 years ago. Methods: Standardized mortality ratios were computed for the entire study period. Adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were estimated in Cox proportional hazard models with categorical variables for cumulative exposure to each type of MWF. Results: Exposure-response patterns are consistent with prior mortality reports from this cohort. We found increased risk of skin and female breast cancer with straight fluids. For the first time, we found elevated risk of stomach cancer mortality. Overall, many of the exposure-response results did not suggest an association with MWF. Conclusions: Mortality is a poor proxy for cancer diagnosis for treatable cancers and not the optimal outcome measure in etiological studies. Although the HR presented here handle bias from the healthy worker hire effect and left truncation, they do not handle bias from healthy worker survivor effect, which likely results in underestimates of the health impacts of MWF. Although this updated summary provides some information on the risk of cancer from MWF, targeted future analyses will help clarify associations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Automobiles Cohort Studies Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Health Safety Skin Skin Diseases
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Auto Manufacturing Automotive Industry Breast Cancer Cohort Analysis Cohort Studies Cohort Study Cox Model Exposure Manufacturing Metalworking Fluids Mortality Data MWFs Skin Cancer Standardized Mortality Ratio Stomach Cancer

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• ISSN:
  0355-3140
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  46
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062243
• Citation:
  Scand J Work Environ Health 2020 Sep; 46(5):525-532
• Contact Point Address:
  Sadie Costello, PhD, Environmental Health Science, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way #5302, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA
• Email:
  Sadie@berkeley.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20180915
• Source Full Name:
  Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
• End Date:
  20210914
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:123376888cf42395107da6fb1a9f42d0cc9edebe0dc9306f71c829c97983ae0323362d9d8d7097ad2a7b5f8480d4ca858ad89e00e0ecc3d6c0d2de8225ef7de7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225532/cdc_225532_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 424.46 KB ]