Respiratory tract mortality in cement workers: a proportionate mortality study

BMC Pulmonary Medicine

Research Article

Konstantinos Kostikas¹  Christos Hadjichristodoulou¹  George Rachiotis¹  Vasilios Makropoulos²  Spyros Drivas³ 

[1]Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical Faculty, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

[2]Department of Occupational and Industrial Medicine, National School Public Health, Athens, Greece

[3]Greek Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (ELINYAE), Athens, Greece

关键词: Lung Cancer;    Office Worker;    Lung Cancer Mortality;    Cement Industry;    Maintenance Worker;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2466-12-30

 received in 2011-09-15, accepted in 2012-06-15,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe evidence regarding the association between lung cancer and occupational exposure to cement is controversial. This study investigated causes of deaths from cancer of respiratory tract among cement workers.MethodsThe deaths of the Greek Cement Workers Compensation Scheme were analyzed covering the period 1969-1998. All respiratory, lung, laryngeal and urinary bladder cancer proportionate mortality were calculated for cement production, maintenance, and office workers in the cement industry. Mortality from urinary bladder cancer was used as an indirect indicator of the confounding effect of smoking.ResultsMortality from all respiratory cancer was significantly increased in cement production workers (PMR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.54 to 2.33). The proportionate mortality from lung cancer was significantly elevated (PMR = 2.05; 95% CI 1.65 to 2.52). A statistically significant increase in proportionate mortality due to respiratory (PMR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.2 to 2.34). and lung cancer (PMR = 1.67;95% CI = 1.15-2.34) among maintenance workers has been observed. The PMR among the three groups of workers (production, maintenance, office) did differ significantly for lung cancer (p = 0.001), while the PMR for urinary bladder cancer found to be similar among the three groups of cement workers.ConclusionCement production, and maintenance workers presented increased lung and respiratory cancer proportionate mortality, and this finding probably cannot be explained by the confounding effect of smoking alone. Further research including use of prospective cohort studies is needed in order to establish a causal association between occupational exposure to cement and risk of lung cancer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Rachiotis et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012