Mortality update of butadiene production workers. 1996

B J Divine, and C M Hartman
Texaco Inc., Houston, TX 77251, USA.

This is a further update of a cohort mortality study of 2795 male workers employed at least 6 months between 1942 and 1994 at a 1,3-butadiene facility. Earlier reports on this cohort found a statistically significant deficit for all causes of death and lower than expected mortality for most leading causes of death. Prior reports noted an excess of deaths from lymphosarcoma primarily in those employed less than 10 years, first employed before 1946, and employed in jobs with the potential for daily exposure to butadiene (BD). There was a nonsignificant elevation for leukemia in persons potentially exposed to BD on an intermittent basis. The purpose of this update was to examine the patterns of mortality with four additional years of follow-up. Persons who had become eligible since the cohort was last updated through 1990 were also added. A total of 1222 deaths were identified, and death certificates were obtained for all but 20 of the deaths (1.6%). The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for all causes of death is 88 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 83-93), and for all cancer, the SMR is 92 (95% CI = 82-104). There were 42 deaths from lymphohematopoietic cancers (LHC) with 28.6 expected (SMR = 147, 95% CI = 106-198), 9 observed vs. 4.7 expected deaths for lymphosarcoma (SMR = 191, 95% CI = 87-364), 13 observed vs. 11.5 expected deaths for leukemia (SMR = 113, 95% CI = 60-193), and 15 observed vs. 9.9 expected deaths from cancer of other lymphatic tissue (SMR = 152, 95% CI = 85-250). Subcohort analyses showed that the elevated risk of all LHC and its subcategories was restricted to persons who were first employed before 1950. As an adjunct to the SMR analyses, modeling was done using a qualitative cumulative exposure score as a time-dependent explanatory variable for, (1) all LHC (ICD 200-209); (2) lymphosarcoma (ICD 200); (3) lymphosarcoma and other lymphoma (ICD 200, 202); (4) multiple myeloma (ICD 203); and (5) leukemia (ICD 204-207). The cumulative exposure score was not significantly associated with any of these cancers. Cancer risk was found to increase with age for all of the LHC groups analyzed, except for lymphosarcoma. Similarly, cancer risk was found to increase with age-at-hire for all of the LHC groups except for multiple myeloma.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009369 Neoplasms New abnormal growth of tissue. Malignant neoplasms show a greater degree of anaplasia and have the properties of invasion and metastasis, compared to benign neoplasms. Benign Neoplasm,Cancer,Malignant Neoplasm,Tumor,Tumors,Benign Neoplasms,Malignancy,Malignant Neoplasms,Neoplasia,Neoplasm,Neoplasms, Benign,Cancers,Malignancies,Neoplasias,Neoplasm, Benign,Neoplasm, Malignant,Neoplasms, Malignant
D009784 Occupational Diseases Diseases caused by factors involved in one's employment. Diseases, Occupational,Occupational Illnesses,Disease, Occupational,Illnesse, Occupational,Illnesses, Occupational,Occupational Disease,Occupational Illnesse
D002070 Butadienes Four carbon unsaturated hydrocarbons containing two double bonds. Butadiene Derivative,Butadiene Derivatives,Derivative, Butadiene,Derivatives, Butadiene
D002273 Carcinogens Substances that increase the risk of NEOPLASMS in humans or animals. Both genotoxic chemicals, which affect DNA directly, and nongenotoxic chemicals, which induce neoplasms by other mechanism, are included. Carcinogen,Oncogen,Oncogens,Tumor Initiator,Tumor Initiators,Tumor Promoter,Tumor Promoters,Initiator, Tumor,Initiators, Tumor,Promoter, Tumor,Promoters, Tumor
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D015331 Cohort Studies Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics. Birth Cohort Studies,Birth Cohort Study,Closed Cohort Studies,Cohort Analysis,Concurrent Studies,Historical Cohort Studies,Incidence Studies,Analysis, Cohort,Cohort Studies, Closed,Cohort Studies, Historical,Studies, Closed Cohort,Studies, Concurrent,Studies, Historical Cohort,Analyses, Cohort,Closed Cohort Study,Cohort Analyses,Cohort Studies, Birth,Cohort Study,Cohort Study, Birth,Cohort Study, Closed,Cohort Study, Historical,Concurrent Study,Historical Cohort Study,Incidence Study,Studies, Birth Cohort,Studies, Cohort,Studies, Incidence,Study, Birth Cohort,Study, Closed Cohort,Study, Cohort,Study, Concurrent,Study, Historical Cohort,Study, Incidence
D016273 Occupational Exposure The exposure to potentially harmful chemical, physical, or biological agents that occurs as a result of one's occupation. Exposure, Occupational,Exposures, Occupational,Occupational Exposures

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