Mortality patterns by occupation in a cohort of electric utility workers.
BACKGROUND
Mortality patterns were examined in a United States cohort of 138,905 male electric utility workers from five companies to help interpret previous studies of health effects in this industry.


METHODS
Using Poisson regression techniques, internal cohort analyses examined total mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer in relation to duration of employment in each of nineteen occupational categories which comprise utility operations.


RESULTS
Relative to workers who were never involved in utility operations (e.g., administrative workers), mortality rate ratios among operations workers were higher for total mortality, cardiovascular disease, and total cancer. Lung cancer risk was consistently elevated, whereas increased mortality for other cancers was less consistent.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study indicate excess risk of total mortality, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers among electric utility workers, which could be related to both occupational and non-occupational risk factors.
van Wijngaarden
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E
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7435, USA.
Savitz
D A
DA
Kleckner
R C
RC
Kavet
R
R
Loomis
D
D
D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004560:Electricity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D009790:Occupations; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology