Cancer and All-Cause Mortality Among United States Union Poultry Workers

Details

• Journal Article:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Personal Author:
  Ball, M. Alexander ; Amick, Benjamin C. III ; Nembhard, Wendy N. ; Joshua, Christina C. ; Delhey, Leanna M. ; Schach, Samuel L. ; Allen, Jaimi L.
• Description:
  Objectives: Several industry-specific hazards are present in the poultry working environment. It is not well known whether risk factors unique to poultry working increase all-cause and cancer mortality relative to other industry types. The study objective was to compare all-cause and cancer mortality among poultry workers to non-poultry food workers. Methods: Occupational data for 30 411 poultry and 16 405 non-poultry workers were obtained from United Food and Commercial Workers union records and matched to the National Death Index up to 31 December 2019 to conduct a retrospective cohort study. Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and their 95% CIs from time-stratified Cox proportional hazard regression models were run to compare all-cause and cancer mortality among poultry and non-poultry workers. Results: Across the full cohort, no statistically significant elevation in all-cause or cancer mortality among poultry workers was observed (all-cause: aHR 0.98, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.01; cancer: aHR 1.05, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.13); however, time-period sensitivity was evident. After accounting for calendar time, poultry workers hired before 1960 had a 62% greater cancer mortality hazard compared with non-poultry workers (aHR 1.62, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.11). Poultry workers hired between 1980 and 1989 had a 59% (aHR 1.59, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.79) and 86% (aHR 1.86, 95% CI 1.39 to 2.48) greater all-cause and cancer mortality risk, respectively. Conclusions: Union poultry workers hired in the United States during the 20th century faced greater all-cause and cancer mortality compared with non-poultry workers; however, this elevation was period-sensitive, varying by employment start date.
• Subjects:
  Food-Processing Industry Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Poultry Safety
• Keywords:
  Poultry workers; Cancer rates; Mortality rates; Epidemiology; Cohort studies; Food processing industry; Occupational exposure
• Source:
  Occup Environ Med 2026 Mar; :[Epub ahead of print]
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Arkansas ; Birmingham Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071284
• Contact Point Address:
  Jaimi L Allen, Department of Epidemiology, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
• Email:
  jlallen@uams.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20210930
• End Date:
  20230929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e3985ac2eecbb819333650e7271ab3fa361a74670ae56d998c25df9879f81d7a0edad1000c106a2970a029d5f3e853b8a0252bd18811edabf056a84b89fdd4dc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258761/cdc_258761_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 327.54 KB ]