Ann. occup. Hyg., Vol. 46, No. 7, pp. 575-585, 2002
© 2002 British Occupational Hygiene Society
Published by Oxford University Press
Mortality among Workers at a Talc Mining and Milling Facility
1 Environmental Health Sciences Program, Institute of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8574, Japan; 2 Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022, USA; 3 Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Birmingham, AL 35294-0022, USA
Received 15 August 2001; in final form 6 May 2002
Background: This study evaluated mortality among workers at a talc mining and milling facility. Methods: Subjects were white men actively employed between 1948 and 1989 and known to have been alive in or after 1950. Analyses assessed cancer mortality during the period 1950–89 (809 subjects) and non-cancer mortality during 1960–89 (782 subjects). Results: Comparisons with regional general population death rates for 1960–89 indicated that the workers had more than expected deaths from all causes combined [209 observed/160 expected, standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 131, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 114–150], due mainly to increased mortality from lung cancer (31/13, SMR = 232, CI = 157–329) and non-malignant respiratory disease (NMRD) (28/13, SMR = 221, CI = 147–320). The lung cancer excess was concentrated in miners (18/4.6, SMR = 394, CI = 233–622); millers had only a small increase (7/5.5, SMR = 128, CI = 51–263). An excess of NMRD occurred both in miners (10/4.2, SMR = 241, CI = 116–444) and in millers (11/4.8, SMR = 227, CI = 113–407). The median estimated exposure to respirable dust was 511 mg/m3-days for all exposed employees, 739 mg/m3-days for mine workers and 683 mg/m3-days for mill workers. Employees with high, compared with low, estimated exposure to dust had a rate ratio of 0.5 (CI = 0.2–1.3) for lung cancer and of 11.8 (CI = 3.1–44.9) for pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusions: Exposure to talc ore dust may not have been responsible for the lung cancer excess among these workers but probably contributed to the elevated rate of NMRD, particularly pulmonary fibrosis.
Keywords: epidemiology; lung neoplasms; occupational exposure; talc
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