Mortality among employees at a hydrometallurgical nickel refinery and fertilizer complex in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta (1954-1984).
We examined the mortality experience of 1,643 male hydrometallurgical nickel refinery and fertilizer employees who were employed at Sherritt Gordon Limited in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta for at least 12 continuous months during the years 1954 to 1978. Mortality ascertainment was obtained utilizing the Canadian Mortality Data Base maintained by Statistics Canada and covered the years 1954 through 1984. Cause-specific mortality analyses were accomplished using male, age and calendar-year adjusted death rates for Canada and the province of Alberta. Total mortality was observed to have been significantly below expectation. Statistically significant fewer observed deaths were found for circulatory disease, ischemic heart disease and deaths due to accidents, poisonings and violence while the category "other forms of heart disease" demonstrated a statistically significant elevation of observed deaths. No association was found in this study between employment at the Sherritt Gordon hydrometallurgical nickel refinery and the subsequent development of respiratory cancer.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Western Ontario.
R D
RD
Egedahl
M
M
Fair
R
R
Homik
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000416:Alberta / Q000453:epidemiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003644:Death Certificates; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008669:Metallurgy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009532:Nickel; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012943:Social Security; D013660:Taxes
D009532:Nickel