Cirrhosis mortality and occupation.
Cirrhosis, the ninth leading cause of death in the United States, has been associated with abusive alcohol consumption patterns. Since the workplace serves as a major exposure variable for alcohol consumption over a significant portion of the lifecourse, and since heavy drinking has been shown to differ by type of occupation, this study examines the relationship between type of occupation and cirrhosis mortality. The California Occupational Mortality Study data set (1979 to 1981) provided the information on primary occupation and liver cirrhosis mortality. Crude and sex-specific mortality rates were calculated based on information from a 20% sample of the 1980 California census (included in the data set). Ninety-five percent confidence intervals were calculated around all rates to determine if any were significantly different from rates for the entire state. The findings uphold the view that an association exists between occupation and cirrhosis mortality. The highest mortality rates were found among persons with blue-collar type jobs (e.g., construction laborers and machinists) or jobs where alcohol was easily available (e.g., bartenders and waitresses). Future research needs to specify the factors associated with occupation that may promote the chronic heavy drinking that leads to cirrhosis.
Harford
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Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, Maryland 20857.
Brooks
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D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016272:Occupational Health; D009790:Occupations / Q000145:classification; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States