Effect of age and height on vibrotactile threshold among 1,663 U.S. workers.

Assessment of vibrotactile threshold has gained application in studies of neuropathies induced by toxic substances, compression, and vibration. The effect of age and height on vibrotactile threshold is of interest for its own sake and for the purpose of confounder control. We have studied the relation between finger and toe vibrotactile thresholds and age and height in five studies carried out by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health with vibrometry data (N = 1,663).

Diesel exhaust and lung cancer in the trucking industry: exposure-response analyses and risk assessment.

Background: Diesel exhaust is considered a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The epidemiologic evidence rests on studies of lung cancer among truck drivers, bus drivers, shipyard workers, and railroad workers. The general public is exposed to diesel exhaust in ambient air.

Predicted lung cancer risk among miners exposed to diesel exhaust particles.

Several quantitative risk assessment models have been published for occupational and environmental exposures to diesel exhaust particles (DEP). These risk assessment models are reviewed and applied to predict lung cancer for miners exposed to DEP. The toxicologically based unit risk estimates varied widely (from 2 to 220 x 10(-6) per micrograms/m3).

Exposure to dioxin and nonneoplastic mortality in the expanded IARC international cohort study of phenoxy herbicide and chlorophenol production workers and sprayers.

The authors studied noncancer mortality among phenoxyacid herbicide and chlorophenol production workers and sprayers included in an international study comprising 36 cohorts from 12 countries followed from 1939 to 1992. Exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or higher chlorinated dioxins (TCDD/HCD) was discerned from job records and company questionnaires with validation by biologic and environmental measures. Standard mortality ratio analyses suggested a moderate healthy worker effect for all circulatory diseases, especially ischemic heart disease, among both those exposed and those not exposed to TCDD/HCD.

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and risk factors for heart disease among never smokers in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The relative risk of coronary artery disease among never smokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) versus never smokers not exposed to ETS is approximately 1.2 based on more than a dozen epidemiologic studies. Most of these studies have controlled for the major heart disease risk factors, but residual or uncontrolled confounding remains a possible explanation for the epidemiologic findings.

Incidence of tuberculosis infection among New York State prison employees.

Objectives: This study examined tuberculosis skin test conversions among 24,487 New York State prison employees in 1992.

Methods: Conversions were analyzed by prison and by job category.

Results: The conversion rate was 1.

Exposure-response analysis of risk of respiratory disease associated with occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos.

Objectives: To evaluate alternative models and estimate risk of mortality from lung cancer and asbestosis after occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos.

Methods: Data were used from a recent update of a cohort mortality study of workers in a South Carolina textile factory. Alternative exposure-response models were evaluated with Poisson regression.

Thyroid hormones and cytogenetic outcomes in backpack sprayers using ethylenebis(dithiocarbamate) (EBDC) fungicides in Mexico.

Ethylenebis(dithiocarbamate) (EBDC) fungicides are used heavily in the United States. EBDCs (e.g.

Silica, asbestos, man-made mineral fibers, and cancer.

Approximately three million workers in the United States are estimated to be exposed to silica, man-made mineral fibers, and asbestos. The lung is the primary target organ of concern. Each of these substances is composed predominantly of silicon and oxygen; asbestos and silica are crystalline, and asbestos and man-made mineral fibers are fibers.

Effect of travel and rest on performance of professional basketball players.

We have studied 8,495 regular season games in the National Basketball Association over eight seasons (1987-1988 through 1994-1995) to analyze the effects of travel and rest on performance. We found that more time between games improved performance, an effect that was constant over time and statistically significant. More than 1 day between games increased the home team's score by 1.

Identifying deaths before 1979 using the Social Security Administration Death Master File.

For cohort studies, the Social Security Administration (SSA) traditionally has been the principal source of deaths that occurred before 1979. In 1988, the SSA abolished a system that provided a relatively complete accounting of deaths and replaced it with the Death Master File. We examined the completeness of the SSA Death Master File by comparing it with the U.

Increased precision using countermatching in nested case-control studies.

Nested case-control studies in occupational cohorts are often used to estimate exposure effects when development of detailed exposure estimates for all cohort members is too costly. Duration of exposure, which can act as a surrogate for cumulative exposure, is often readily available for all cohort members. Langholz and others have recently proposed a method of control selection called countermatching, which uses data on the surrogate to determine which controls are selected from the risk set for a given case.

End-stage renal disease among silica-exposed gold miners. A new method for assessing incidence among epidemiologic cohorts.

Objective: To examine the association between silica exposure and end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: A cohort of 2412 white male gold miners was studied.

A follow-up study of job strain and heart disease among males in the NHANES1 population.

Several studies have associated heart disease with job strain, defined as low job control and high job demands. We have studied incident heart disease (519 cases) and job strain among 3,575 males in NHANES1 survey who were currently employed at baseline in the early 1970s, and followed through 1987. Scores for job control and job demands were assigned to each subject based on current occupation at baseline.

Laryngeal cancer incidence among workers exposed to acid mists (United States).

In 1992, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that sufficient evidence existed to classify sulfuric acid mists as a human carcinogen, based primarily on six human studies. Possible mechanisms include irritation of epithelial cells in conjunction with cigarette smoking, or a direct genotoxic effect due to a modification of cellular pH. We have followed 1,031 men exposed to acid mists in the steel industry in the United States, via mailed questionnaire and telephone interview, extending by 10 years a prior follow-up of this cohort.

Parity and coronary heart disease among women in the American Cancer Society CPS II population.

Four of five cohort studies have shown an increase in cardio-vascular disease with increased parity, after control for a number of cardiovascular risk factors. The effect has been observed primarily in categories of four or more livebirths. To analyze this issue further, we conducted an analysis of 585,445 women from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Survey II (CPS II).

Mortality of workers exposed to toluene diisocyanate in the polyurethane foam industry.

Objective: To evaluate cancer mortality among United States workers exposed to toluene diisocyanate (TDI) in the manufacture of polyurethane foam.

Methods: This cohort mortality study included 4611 men and women employed in four polyurethane foam plants for at least three months between the late 1950s and 1987. The mortality experience of the cohort was then compared with that of the general United States population.

Epidemiology of occupation and coronary heart disease: research agenda.

Little is known about occupational risks for coronary heart disease. A few specific toxins encountered occupationally are known to affect the heart, most prominently carbon disulfide, nitroglycerin, and carbon monoxide. Of these, carbon monoxide is the most common occupational exposure; it is also a common environmental exposure due to vehicle exhaust.

Environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease in the American Cancer Society CPS-II cohort.

Background: Thirteen of 14 epidemiological studies have shown an increased risk of approximately 20% for coronary heart disease (CHD) for never-smokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), but this association remains controversial. If true, ETS might account for an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 heart disease deaths per year in the United States.

Methods And Results: We have conducted the largest study to date, a prospective study of 353,180 female and 126,500 male never-smokers enrolled in 1982 in the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II and followed through 1989.

Review of occupational lung carcinogens.

Lung cancer is the most common malignancy in the United States and is ranked second only to bladder cancer in the proportion of cases thought to be due to occupational exposures. We review the epidemiology of occupational lung cancer, focusing on agents identified as pulmonary carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. We derive estimates of overall relative risks from the major studies of these lung carcinogens, and we also provide estimates of the number of exposed workers.

Shift work, shift change, and risk of death from heart disease at work.

Some epidemiologic studies suggest workers who rotate shift are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but no studies have studied the effect of shift workers who do not rotate. To determine whether current shift or recent change in shift was a risk factor for ischemic heart disease, we conducted a nested case-control study of heart disease death at work within a cohort of 21,000 men working at four heavy equipment plants. We identified 163 men who died of ischemic heart disease at work or within 1 week of working, and compared them 781 controls who were working at the same age but did not die.

Negative bias in exposure-response trends in occupational studies: modeling the healthy workers survivor effect.

Many occupational studies analyze trends between cumulative exposure and mortality. The authors show that such trends are, in general, negatively confounded by employment status. Mortality rates for workers who leave work ("inactive" workers) are higher than for active workers because some workers leave because they are ill.

Cancer incidence in the National Health and Nutrition Survey I. Follow-up data: diabetes, cholesterol, pulse and physical activity.

We examined cancer incidence among 14,407 men and women who were enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Survey I in the early 1970s and then followed through 1987. We studied 657 male and 593 female cancer cases, using Cox regression. Analyses were conducted for all cancers, lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer.

Chronic neurologic sequelae to cholinesterase inhibition among agricultural pesticide applicators.

To test the hypothesis that chronic neurologic sequelae are associated with cholinesterase depression short of frank organophosphate poisoning, we compared 45 male subjects who had a history of moderate cholinesterase inhibition with 90 male subjects who had neither past cholinesterase inhibition nor current pesticide exposure. Cholinesterase-inhibited subjects were defined as having had a history of (a) red blood cell cholinesterase at 70% or less of baseline or (b) plasma cholinesterase at 60% or less of baseline absent symptoms of frank poisoning. In the subject comparison evaluation, only 1 of 27 neurologic tests (i.