Mortality study of civilian employees exposed to contaminated drinking water at USMC Base Camp Lejeune: a retrospective cohort study

Environmental Health

Research

Morris Maslia¹  Theodore C Larson²  Frank J Bove²  Perri Zeitz Ruckart² 

[1] ATSDR, Division of Community Health Investigations, 4770 Buford Highway, MS F-59, 30341, Atlanta, GA, USA;Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences, 4770 Buford Highway, MS F-58, 30341, Atlanta, GA, USA;

关键词: Mortality;    Cancers;    Trichloroethylene;    Tetrachloroethylene;    Vinyl chloride;    Benzene;    Drinking water;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-13-68

 received in 2014-06-02, accepted in 2014-08-05,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTwo drinking water systems at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina were contaminated with solvents during 1950s-1985.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort mortality study of 4,647 civilian, full-time workers employed at Camp Lejeune during 1973–1985 and potentially exposed to contaminated drinking water. We selected a comparison cohort of 4,690 Camp Pendleton workers employed during 1973–1985 and unexposed to contaminated drinking water. Mortality follow-up period was 1979-2008. Cause-specific standardized mortality ratios utilized U.S. age-, sex-, race-, and calendar period-specific mortality rates as reference. We used survival analysis to compare mortality rates between Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton workers and assess the effects of estimated cumulative contaminant exposures within the Camp Lejeune cohort. Ground water contaminant fate/transport and distribution system models provided monthly estimated contaminant levels in drinking water serving workplaces at Camp Lejeune. The confidence interval (CI) indicated precision of effect estimates.ResultsCompared to Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune workers had mortality hazard ratios (HRs) >1.50 for kidney cancer (HR = 1.92, 95% CI: 0.58, 6.34), leukemias (HR = 1.59, 95% CI: 0.66, 3.84), multiple myeloma (HR = 1.84, 95% CI: 0.45, 7.58), rectal cancer (HR = 1.65, 95% CI: 0.36, 7.44), oral cavity cancers (HR = 1.93, 95% CI: 0.34, 10.81), and Parkinson’s disease (HR = 3.13, 95% CI: 0.76, 12.81). Within the Camp Lejeune cohort, monotonic exposure-response relationships were observed for leukemia and vinyl chloride and PCE, with mortality HRs at the high exposure category of 1.72 (95% CI: 0.33, 8.83) and 1.82 (95% CI: 0.36, 9.32), respectively. Cumulative exposures were above the median for most deaths from cancers of the kidney, esophagus, rectum, prostate, and Parkinson’s disease, but small numbers precluded evaluation of exposure-response relationships.ConclusionThe study found elevated HRs in the Camp Lejeune cohort for several causes of death including cancers of the kidney, rectum, oral cavity, leukemias, multiple myeloma, and Parkinson’s disease. Only 14% of the Camp Lejeune cohort died by end of follow-up, producing small numbers of cause-specific deaths and wide CIs. Additional follow-up would be necessary to comprehensively assess drinking water exposure effects at the base.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Bove et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014