title: Cancer deaths in a cohort of Japanese barbers in Aichi Prefecture.
abstract: Barbers have frequent occasion to come in contact with hair and beauty products that contain many chemical substances, which could have harmful effects on health. Subjects were barbers belonging to the Barbers' Union of Aichi Prefecture who responded to a questionnaire in 1976. Deaths from all sites of cancers in the subjects were observed over 27 years. Mortalities of several cancers in the subjects were compared with individuals in the Japanese population, calculating standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) using the general Japanese population as a standard. Subjects included 8,360 people (4,674 men). There were a total of 551 deaths (469 men) during the follow-up period, and 277 deaths (211 men) from all cancers. The male and female SMRs (95% CI) were 0.62 (0.58-0.66) and 0.25 (0.16-0.34) for all deaths, 0.46 (0.39-0.53) and 0.41 (0.35-0.53) for all cancers combined, 0.49 (0.35-0.63) and 0.40 (0.12-0.68) for stomach, 0.40 (0.24-0.56) and 0.30 (0.10-0.70) for lung, 0.56 (0.39-0.73) and 0.26 (0.02-0.76) for liver, 0.38 (0.16-0.60) and 0.30 (0.07-0.67) for colon, and 0.48 (0.08-0.88) and 0.22 (0.04-0.79) for blood cancers, respectively, with significantly fewer deaths than in the general populace. The female SMRs were 0.90 (0.74-4.06) for breast and 0.55 (0.06-1.04) for ovarian, lacking significance. Thus, no excess mortality of any cancer sites was observed compared with the general population in both Japan and Aichi Prefecture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: Kiyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yagyu
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Obata
authors.forename: Yingsong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tamakoshi
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Keitarou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001461:Barbering; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires