Use of a population-based tumor registry to estimate cancer incidence among a cohort of chemical workers.
There have been many studies conducted of mortality in occupational cohorts, but few of cancer incidence. Two major facilities of the Western Division of Dow Chemical USA are located fortuitously within an area covered by the population-based California Tumor Registry, which allowed linkage of records to identify incident cancers among 1,403 male workers. Using adjusted county rates for comparison, 49 new cancers were observed in the cohort from 1969 through 1983, whereas 63.0 were expected (standardized incidence ratio = 78, 95% confidence limits = 53 to 103). Nonsignificant excesses were noted for several cancer groups among some categories of workers; however, there was no predominant tumor type within the groups. The successful completion of this collaborative project suggests that using population-based tumor registries for surveillance of occupational cohorts is feasible.
Bond
G G
GG
Dept of Epidemiology, Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI 48674.
Austin
D F
DF
Gondek
M R
MR
Chiang
M
M
Cook
R R
RR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002140:California; D002617:Chemical Industry; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors