Objective: To examine the patterns of cause-specific mortality and relationship between internal exposure to uranium and specific causes in a pooled cohort of 29,303 workers employed at three former uranium enrichment facilities in the United States with follow-up through 2011.
Methods: Cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for the full cohort were calculated with the U.S.
Intakes and absorbed organ doses were estimated for 29 303 workers employed at three former US gaseous diffusion plants as part of a study of cause-specific mortality and cancer incidence in uranium enrichment workers. Uranium urinalysis data (>600 000 urine samples) were available for 58 % of the pooled cohort. Facility records provided uranium gravimetric and radioactivity concentration data and allowed estimation of enrichment levels of uranium to which workers may have been exposed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We examined health outcomes among 34,494 workers employed at a microelectronics and business machine facility 1969-2001.
Methods: Standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and standardized incidence ratios were used to evaluate health outcomes in the cohort and Cox regression modeling to evaluate relations between scores for occupational exposures and outcomes of a priori interest.
Results: Just over 17% of the cohort (5,966 people) had died through 2009.
A retrospective exposure assessment was performed for use in a health outcomes study of a facility manufacturing circuit boards, business machines, and other equipment during the years 1969-2002. A matrix was developed identifying chemical use by department-year based on company-provided information. Use of six chemical agents (fiberglass, lead, methylene chloride, methyl chloroform, perchloroethylene, and trichloroethylene) and six chemical classes (acid-base, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, other hydrocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, and metals), and general (including unspecified) chemicals was identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To examine mortality patterns and dose-response relations between ionising radiation and mortality outcomes of a priori interest in 6409 uranium workers employed for at least 30 days (1951-1985), and followed through 2004.
Methods: Cohort mortality was evaluated through standardised mortality ratios (SMR). Linear excess relative risk (ERR) regression models examined associations between cause-specific mortality and exposures to internal ionising radiation from uranium deposition, external gamma and x-ray radiation, and radon decay products, while adjusting for non-radiologic covariates.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol
July 2012
Exposure was assessed for a cohort of 6409 workers at a former uranium processing facility as part of a mortality study. Workers at the facility had potential for exposure to a wide variety of radiological and chemical agents including uranium, thorium, radon, external ionizing radiation, acid mists, asbestos, and various solvents. Organ dose from internal exposure to uranium was assessed, along with dose from external ionizing radiation and exposure to radon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe primary risk factors of multiple myeloma are age, race and sex, but several studies have found an association between radiological hazards and multiple myeloma. The purpose of this nested case-control study was to investigate whether workers with chronic low-level exposure to internally deposited uranium at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant in eastern Tennessee were at higher risk of dying of multiple myeloma than those without occupational exposure to uranium, with the consideration of potential confounders of external ionizing radiation and occupational chemical hazards such as mercury, nickel and trichloroethylene. The main analyses were carried out using conditional logistic regression on 98 cases and 490 controls (five controls matched to each case on gender, race and age at risk).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aetiology of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is largely unknown. Despite compelling evidence for ionising radiation as a cause of most forms of leukaemia, CLL was not found to be radiogenic in early studies. Herein we describe the recent evidence for causation of CLL by ionising and non-ionising radiation, including a nested case-control study conducted within a cohort of 94 517 US workers at four nuclear weapons facilities and a nuclear naval shipyard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA nested case-control study was conducted among workers at five U.S. nuclear facilities to evaluate leukemia mortality risk (excluding chronic lymphocytic) from ionizing radiation using worksite doses and adjusting for potential confounding.
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