A cohort study of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders in Danish welders.

Objective: We sought to evaluate rates of hospitalizations for neurodegenerative disorders in a cohort of Danish metal manufacturing employees.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted from 1977 to 2002 among 27,839 male Danish metal-manufacturing employees, with 9,817 of those employed in departments engaged in mild or stainless-steel welding and 6,163 welders.

Results: The standardized hospitalization ratio and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for Parkinson's disease were 0.